Freethinker ~ Freerunner

This is the second time I have done the Post Oak Lodge Trail run.  I am so happy that I did it this year and finished, because in 2010 I recorded a DNF for the first and only time.  I'm still waiting on the results, but according to the runner who finished just ahead of me I placed 7th.  Again I am waiting on the official results, but I am very excited about my place if that runner is correct. (As I finished typing this post the official results came in and I placed 6th overall and second in my age division).   

I have to say that the course was organized so much better this year than in 2010.  I ran the first couple of miles in a small pack of runners.  I eventually moved out ahead of the pack and came up behind two kids that looked to be about 11 or 12 at most.  I later learned that they had doubled this weekend, meaning that they participated in races both days.  After running behind them for about half a mile on a more narrow part of the trails, I eventually passed them as I began to notice our pace slow down from 8:00 minute miles to about 8:30 per mile. 

After I passed them I was alone for probably seven or eight miles.  I came across more people but they were running other races and most of them were walking as I passed them.  It was not until the start of mile eleven that I caught up to at least one of the runners who had been leading me in the half marathon. 

I caught another one on mile twelve and hung in with him for until we got to the bottom of the "Hill From Hell."  They call it that because it is 166 feet of elevation change in about three quarters of a mile.  The local Fleet Feet store had an aid station at the bottom of the hill with water, Gatorade, and beer.  I made a snap decision to take the beer, even though the guy I was trying to hang with at the end skipped the aid station completely.  He ended up finishing about 10 seconds before me.  He had pulled ahead right before the beer stop, and I doubted that I would have caught him even if I hadn't stopped.  This doubt became a little less clear as we chugged up the hill.  He was actually not that far ahead of me most of the way up.  He pulled slightly ahead near the top.  After I got to the top I could see him and I felt I could have caught him if I'd had a little bit more distance, but alas there was the finish.  Had I known that I was in a battle for first in my age division I would have tried harder.  As I have been typing this I checked back online for the results and it turns out that I placed second my age division.  He beat me by only ten seconds. 

I may try for the doubler next year or perhaps one of the 50k.  I'll have to wait and see how the Grasslands goes next month in Texas.  Kevin and Ashley both said my time should be much better since there really aren't any hills at that race.  I will also be at the end of my training program, and hopefully slightly more fit than I am now.