Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Ran out the first bit of the course to check things out. Didn't feel particularly ducky, but okay.

Oh, wow, this race is great. Alex had said just that, and I believed her, but whoopie woo. These super-chill Grand Tree races are really quite fantastic; I feel for the people throwing $50 at a 5k (or $150 at a Spartan race, really?) when for $25 you can do this.

Also, I stepped on something and had a little cut on the bottom of my right foot. I've done this a couple times before and it hurts, but not that much running. Should I be running on it? Absolutely not. Was it a perfect day for a trail race. Indeed.

Left super-early—pre-dawn wake up at 4:55—and picked up the Ed and Alex for the drive out. Slightly longer than necessary drive (should have taken South County Road) but Route 2 is so nice I really don't mind it. Plus, no traffic north of the Pike. Or at stupid o'clock on a Sunday. Short warm-up, and then we all start running.

I was in about 7th and then decided to run and catch up with the two guys out front. Which I did, and settled in to an almost-sustainable pace. But the lead guy went off on a downhill, and I settled in behind guy #2. At the first feed he stopped for a glass of water, and I ran on with a water bottle in my hand. At this point the lead woman (Kelsey) got behind me on a downhill, but I pretty quickly dropped her on the ensuing up. She caught me again on the next downhill, but I again went up well ahead of her—the longest uphill of the course, about 500 feet, culminating in the assault on the peak which was a bit of hand-over-hand, the only time I regretted a water bottle (later in the race I'd bounce it off my thigh and catch it midstride, and drink all the gatorade).

And then it was downhill. Kelsey caught up with me and we traded hills, which were rolling and punch, and then Kehr, the second woman, caught me. Long downhill to the turnaround? They both passed me. Fearless downhill runners they are, and this was a pretty good downhill course. Damn. The lead guy was only about 2 minutes up, and if I'd felt super-ducky (I didn't) I'd have hammered the ensuing uphill and tried to catch him. But I was only able to catch the ladies and put a few seconds on them, which meant that I was going to have troubles keeping them behind me on the downhills. Trail is great, pretty runnable, but even still the downhills are just not that easy for me. Really fun, though.

Kelsey, who had always been ahead, came by first. She found a downhill and came by. Kehr mostly stayed behind, trading spots a couple times on the big downhill, but I was mostly able to put time on her on the uphills. I was tired, and not opening gaps. The last two miles of the race is all downhill, and she used her low center of gravity to get by me and try to chase down Kelsey, but she was a minute up. I sauntered in, behind one man and two women—2:30 off the win. Not bad for not feeling perfect.

Then I ate food, cheered Alex, ate food, went swimming and cheered Ed and went home.

And a very slow cool down with ACJ

Ran to JP, slowly and through some woods (potential for some great ParkO terrain along the Emerald Necklace) and then to the T, to go to the airport to fetch a car. Long story.

So, it took FOREVER to find satellites this morning (wet leaves?) and I didn't get the first 0.4 miles of the run. Which is too bad, because Harry egged me on to race down the hill ("here's the only part of the course I can beat you on") and I let loose, running down in probably a 4 minute pace or so. Then, well in front of everyone else, I turned up determined to win the split back to the top.

Then I realized I'm running 17 miles on Sunday.

Still ran the rest decently fast, and felt good. Running down hills, it's a thing.

Not the fastest run ever, but we had to wait for people walking their bikes on the bridge, etc a bunch. Good day for it, though.

Two days off (one planned, one not) but a lovely morning to run stairs in the rain today. Cool, breezy, light rain keeping you cool. I mean, I still stripped off my shirt half way through, but I haven't worn a shirt running stairs in months. Lovely.

The deal today was that every so often they rang a cowbell and you had to go back one section. Kind of a fun gimmick. I ran 42 to get around, and then whenever the bell rang the assorted seated folks would go down and run another. I took these pretty fast.

Felt good, can't wait for it to be cool again.

C • Corn Maze Champs 1