Today was the first in the Striders Winter Racing Circuit. Today's course was quoted by the race director as being "only 5K but it feels like a 10K". That is so true on this course. Nothing but hills, up or down the entire way. This is my third year running it and my goal going in was to better my time from last year of 18 mins. I have been so busy working overtime and then coming home and framing my basement that I have not had very much time to run (especially this week), so I in-advertently tapered for a 5K. It seemed to do wonders though as the race turned out very well. It was about 30 degrees at the start with some icy intersections on the course, but otherwise very runnable. Jon, Walter, Tim Wight, Nathan Pollard were all there for some good competition. We all took off and I decided to go out hard and try and hang on. I was out with Tim and Walter right behind for the first half mile. By this point, we all knew that we were going to be killed by Trevor Ball who had already gapped up good. He probably jogged the whole way to the win. The battle for second was on though.... At the first mile marker (5:43) I was already ahead of my time from last year by 17 seconds and decided I was either going to kill my time or die trying. I was running side by side with Tim up the big hill. As we approached the last 100m of it, I dropped it down a notch and dropped him. I looked back at the turn and saw a lone line of solid runners coming. I did my best to beat my quads into submission on the downhill and not have Jon blast past me like he did last year. I ended up all by myself for the rest of the race focusing on holding off the pack who was battling it out behind me. Mile 2 was (6:00) exactly. Picked up another 3 seconds over my 2008 time. Looking good. Mile 3 was hard since I was all by myself and wasn't able to work off of anyone, but I tried to keep a solid effort on the downhills and not fall on my face. Mile 3 was (5:21). The final uphill kick had an additional obstacle this year of a sheet of ice for 50 meters. That kept the kick down to a slow pace (34 seconds). Watch time was 17:39 official time was 17:38 Very happy with the results. 22 second course PR and second place to boot. Trevor Ball finished 53 seconds ahead of me with Tim Wight 20 seconds behind. Nathan in 5th, Walter in 6th, and Jon in 7th. We did a group cooldown then Jon and I drove back to Logan. Once I got home I had to run up to Lees to pick up my brother in law's vehicle to allow me to finish up my basement framing project (yeah). (5.5 more miles) Race stats: T-17:38 (5:40) 183 ave hr 190 max Starting and finish Elevation: 4790 ft
Max Elevation (big hill): 5005 ft Results are Posted HERE
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