I saw a notice (in Facebook, I think) about this inaugural trail race and decided to sign up since it was on a “free” weekend. The race was organized by Jim Cheney, and started at Camp Manatoc, off Truxell road (off Akron Peninsula).
The weather was great, dry and cool in the morning (60F). The course was a bit tough, not so much for inclines but mostly uneven with lots of roots. I managed not to fall down even once! (One lady after the race, with lots of dirt in her legs, looked at me with surprise and asked "you did not fall???").
The same trails are used for mountain bikes and there was a big mountain bike race taking place later that day.
I started by positioning myself at about 25th place (from 76 runners) and gradually worked my way to the front. My mile splits: 8:14, 8:08, 8:02. By mile 3 I was in a group of 4 runners and we were catching and passing other runners. Then: 8:57, 8:20, 8:09. 8:41, 8:58, 9:05, 8:27, 8:21, 8:13, 8:29.
For the longest time I was running behind a guy with a bandana in his head (from the results I see his name is David Novak) and quite a bit behind us was an Indian fellow (Suneel Apte). I thought we were going to finish in this order, but the Indian guy caught up with us and he passed me at about mile 13. At this point I found the energy to do a "surge" and passed both guys, storming for the finish line. Since we were at mile 13, I thought I only had 0.2 miles to go. But the course was longer, closer to 14 miles, so this mile was endless. I was embarrassed to get passed by these guys, after my little surge, so I kept pushing.
Just before the finish, I caught and passed another runner (Scott Hallett) and finished strong at 1:57:09, in 11th place overall. I was the first runner over 50 (next older runner ahead was 43). The results are here: http://www.chaneyevents.com/
Overall, it was a tough race but I will be happy to do it again next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment