I didn’t get a chance to write up a report for last week’s race, so here’s a report on both. I ran in the Adirondack Runner’s AdiRUNdack Trail Race Series at Cole’s Woods these past two weeks, along with at least 100 others each night.
Rebecca Smith, the RD, mentioned the first week that this was the 10th year of the Trail Series. It’s a wonderful event, and I hope it continues on for at least another 10 years. Rebecca and her crew do an excellent job, and I look forward to the races each year.
Shaun Donegan won the men’s field both weeks, and Elizabeth Emblidge lead the women’s field both weeks. Beyond that, Keith Emblidge is a strong second in the men’s field, and there’s a fight for third between Kevin London and Joe Porter. The women’s field is harder to read right now; the race app mentioned that you had to be present at 4 out of the 5 races to be eligible for awards. Assuming I’m understanding that correctly, that means it’s OK to miss one race, and it looks like Kerri Thomas is in second, and Isabelle Dickens is in third. (Rebecca, please correct me if I’m wrong.)
Also, reviewing the results, I saw something I hadn’t seen the past two years: someone crossed the finish line without a bib on. #36 was listed as “bandit”. I was still in the woods when it happened, so I can’t comment on it any more than that.
Personally, I went in to the first two races with the intention of working on my aerobic base. My training fell apart in December, and I just started getting things back together a few weeks ago. I was hesitant to push too hard, too soon. I do intend on pushing harder the next three weeks, with the hope of a sub-30:00 run on the last race. For these first two races, though, I did the same thing I’ve been doing since I started running seriously again, which is just to try and keep my heart under the max aerobic threshold based on the Maffetone formula.
I was pleased to see my friends Tisha and Matt at the start of both races, and we caught up a bit before each race. At 6 PM, Rebecca gave out the necessary information, and then we were off. Tisha’s pace was close to my pace, so we got to run together and catch up some. This week, as we made our way around the track, she made some comment about getting lapped. (The course goes around the track once, then almost all the way around a second time before heading in to the woods.) I glanced over to see where the lead pack was, and was a bit surprised to see that there wasn’t a lead pack, but a few runners strung out, with a pack following them. Last week, when I had glanced across the track, near the first turn, there appeared to be a definite pack.
As we made our way through the woods, I took in the new growth popping out of the ground. The woods we run through go through a transformation during the series, as a succession of spring foliage emerges from the ground. The grasses that line some of the sections were already coming in strong, and the plantain and lady slippers were starting to come up, too. The wetlands were covered with what looked like skunk cabbage.
I digress, though - we made our way into the woods. When we hit the base of the lollipop (the big loop), I was astonished to see the first place runner emerging from the other end of the trail. I glanced at my watch and noted that we were around the 13 minute mark. He had a little over 1K to go, and was doing well. Through the trees I could see one or two more runners. Tisha and I talked about what it must be like to be that fast, for that long, as we made our way up the hill, and then the conversation drifted back to our lives.
We got back in time to see Walt McConnell (age 84), cross the finish line. He was hurting pretty bad at the end of the first race, so it was good to see him finish strong on the second race. Matt, Tisha and I caught up for a little while, and then I took my leave, to get home in time to tuck my kids in.
Well, that’s it for now. Until next time, be excellent to each other.
This was originally posted on my Ghost blog.