Winter Series Race # 1 (After)

Still 91 Days to Paris.

This morning's 10+K race through Cheyenne Mountain State Park was run under perfect weather conditions. It did indeed go upto about +8c (about 46 F), with sunny skies. 614 runners finished the two races (a 5K short course, and the 10+K long course...the "+" is because it was actually 6.5 miles, which is about 1/4 mile longer than 10K).

Just like with Waldo Canyon, sections of this trail whipped my ass, but good. Once again I learned the hard way that trail running is very different from running on pavement. There was quite a steady & steep climb for the first 3-1/2 to 4 miles, and then the last 2-1/2 to 3 was pretty much down hill or flat. The conditions varied between clean dry dirt, to mud, to hard or semi-hard packed snow covered, and there were a few icy patches that I think claimed a few victims. In some sections, the trail was pretty much single-file, and at the beginning we had a few log-jambs which forced us to slow to a walk as there was no room to pass.

So, here are my stats for the race:

• Official Time: 1:16:04
• I was 184th overall out of 266 who finished the long course
• I was 129th out of 152 men.
• I was 16th out of 19 in my age class (the paunchy middle aged class).

Not the best of results, but still a solid day, training-wise (trail running helps develop all sorts of muscles that regular road running doesn't use). I started pretty strong, and started to slow around mile 4 as the climbing was getting to me. As I hit the downhill portion on the way back, I did not pick up as much speed as I would have liked, in part due to my body starting to feel the fatigue, and in part due to not wanting to slip and crash on the slick surface - I'm training for something bigger (Paris) and I don't want to be blogging about having a leg cast removed in 91 days instead of running through the streets of Paris. I probably could have pushed it a bit more, which my inner dialogue was debating with itself whether or not I could (remember, no iPod for this race). On the plus side, I did get a good sprint going once I had the finish line in sight.

All in all, a good day to run around in circles through the mountains. I will put up a few pictures once I get them downloaded from the camera.

Playlist: None, but I did have the guitar riff from John Mayer's song "Belief" stuck in my head for a good portion of the race.