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| Running and riding in the woods is always better than the road. Today’s pictures are just some of the reasons why. |
Tonight was the George Rogers Clark 10k trail race. I ran this same race last year after being talked into it by my buddy Kelly. At that time, it was the furthest I had ever run, and I picked a heck of a place to do it. George Rogers Clark State Park is a wooded, creeked, hilly place, with some fairly aggressive trail both in terms of climbs and descents, and rocks, roots, streams and bridges. But the experience last year was overwhelmingly positive, both in that I managed to finish the race without stopping, and that I brought home a 4th place trophy!
This year, conditions were almost identical, but I’ve progressed quite a bit as a runner. I warmed up pretty well and went out easy through a slight rain shower, knowing that I had to leave enough in the tank to handle all the climbs (8 of them!). The first thing I noticed was that my energy level wasn’t as high as I’d have liked, owing to total depletion during my race on Saturday, and my impulse workout yesterday. The second thing I noticed was that, even on the climbs, my breathing would get harder, but never out of control. While I did feel like stopping for a fleeting moment or two, I was able to almost laugh off the urge, where in years past, at this distance and with this effort level, I would’ve been fighting it continuously.
So the race went well. I battled back and forth with a few guys who were about my pace, catching them on the climbs and then losing out a bit on the flats. Eventually my endurance and course knowledge won out, and I was able to leave them in the last mile or so. While I had hoped to bring home some hardware, I didn’t place high enough in my age group, which was a little disappointing. Once you’ve got that taste, it’s hard to not expect it! Still, the result was entirely satisfactory. I finished the race in just under an hour, which is an 8 minute improvement over last year! I’m hoping to find a good 5k race soon, to see if I can log some progress towards my PR goal there!