Fun trail race this morning put on by Runners Corner. Just a little 5k but I thought it would be good to go back and see if there was an improvement from last year. Turns out there was about 4 minutes improvement :). Ran a 2.5 mile warmup on single track.
I have an awful habit of going out too fast that I am trying to overcome. The plan was to go out conservative on the first uphill mile, pick people off on the second into the third, and hammer the downhill section at the end. Looking at it now I probably went out a little too conservative but the hill climb at the start went well. I was in 12th going up the hill. I put a pretty good surge in about 3/4 up the hill and into the flat and passed 5 people. From the flat to the start of the single track I tried to stay fast but work on recovering from the hill push. About 100 meters from the start of the single track I threw another surge in and passed the two immediately ahead of me to move into 5th. Came through the first mile in 8:29 (325 feet of gain). From this point I was feeling pretty good and thought I may be able to push and catch the 4 in front on the downhill. Nope :). I ran it hard but they had built too much of a lead. I ended up running the rest of the race alone. So beautiful up there today! Came through mile 2 in 7:48 (220 feet of gain). As soon as the watch beeped for mile 2 I knew there one more hilly section but I could make up the oxygen on the downhill and took off. Felt strong and controlled though the rollers and I ran the last 3/4 mile of the race at around 5 pace. So fun to crush the downhill. Hit mile 3 in 5:49 and kicked it in to the finish. Finished behind Seth Wold, Brian Beckstead, and two guys that ran for UVU last year. Not bad for an old guy :). Second in my large age group (30-39), Brian was first.
After the race Brian and a few of us ran a 6 mile section of trail 51 up to the rockpile and came down a section he calls Ireland. It rolls just perfect for a fun ride down after the 1300 foot climb to the rockpile. Fun morning! PM- late night recovery run on the river loop. So nice out, this weather is crazy.
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