Interesting 4th of July 10K

Up the hill to the finish line.

For the 4^th of July, I ran a rather tough 10K race. The course description was “moderately difficult”. Having survived the “very difficult” Vestal 20K, I wasn’t that concerned.

The raced started off fine, then quickly  went downhill, literally. I’m terrible at downhill and lost time negotiating a very steep downhill plunge. Many people went flying by me. I guess downhill is something I need to practice, because if I had kept my current pace, I would have been flying too, probably on my face.

The next mile was mostly uphill. No trouble there except that I did slow down a little. Then the race took a turn onto a dirt road. It was well packed so that was no problem as long as I kept my eyes on the road and avoided rocks. Running shoes tend to be very thin-soled.

Then the coursed took a turn onto a bridal trail. Bridal as in horse. This trail was tricky. It was narrow, very rocky, and in places, very wet and muddy. It has been raining for weeks and there were some large muddy puddles on the trail. I followed the runners in front of me and made my way around all the obstacles. I turned my ankle when I stepped wrong to avoid a root, but recovered and kept on going.

After two miles of this madness, the trail dumped back onto a road. The race was part of a day of festivities and the road was packed with traffic. The speed limit was 20, but there was hardly any room on the shoulder of the road. This made passing other runners kind of impossible. When there was a driveway for a gas station, I managed to pass one runner. That was the only break I needed because the next runner was a good 30 seconds ahead of me and I never got any closer.

A half mile from the finish line, I was directed to cross the road when I could. Yeah, right! Seeing a small break in traffic, I sprinted to the other side and risked my life running with the flow of traffic.

The finish line was uphill, of course, and after I made the final turn off the terrible road full of cars, I was ready to end this race and gave it everything I had to cross the finish line.

My time for the 6.28 mile crazy race was 53:37. Not bad really considering the “moderately difficult" course.

Another medal to add to the collection!

After the race I hung around to see some of the vendors and wait for the awards ceremony. I estimated there were around 150 runners in the race and I had no idea how many were in front of me. Turns out, not many. I was second for my age group (40 to 49) and received a second place medal.

My overall place was 38 out of 119.

I guess it was an interesting race. I ran it because it’s one I’ve never run before. I could have done without the mud and big rocks, but the trail part was kind of fun. I guess.

My next race is a 5K on July 13th. It’s a flat
course I know well and my goal is to set a PR. I want to see 23:something on the clock when I cross the finish line. I don’t care if it’s 23:59, just as long as it starts with 23.