XTerra 10K Trail Race (Nottingham, PA) RR (Read 450 times)

Feel free to read other, happier reports. Not a good day for me. I had had several good runs this week, so I was ready for a great race, stretched, and really settled into a nice groove over the first mile or so. After the first mile, however, the number of hills on the trails really came to surprise me. I did pass several people walking and gutted through the first several climbs, even though I slowed my pace dramatically. Miles 2-5 were mostly in the sun on narrow trail, so the heat and humidity became awful. Following the pattern of everyone else I was passing, I tried to run up the inclines partway and walk the rest before running the flats and few declines. I'm sure this sounds wimpy for the flying monkey fans/racers out there. As I passed mile 5, I was exhausted but decided I had two choices: keep breaking things up with walking or try to HTFU and finish strong. Choosing the latter, I enjoyed a short shady break and pushed through to where I expected to finish (mile 6.2). As I sprinted up a volunteer pointed us to a large field we had to run around before being sent towards the finish chute. After the volunteer was out of earshot, myself and the person I ended up running with for a while (a 21k racer that dropped out at 10k) both expressed our distaste for the heat and extra distance with colorful language. I slowed to a comfortable pace and remained there for the next .5 mile. Again, I picked up the pace as we reached the end of the field and pushed to where the finish line was. However, they routed us around another short loop before bringing us into the finish. My garmin finished at 3.85, and several oither Garmin wearers had similar mileages. Overall, a very frustrating first 10K. According to others, the course was tough. I love running trails on weekends but am severely disappointed that I had walking breaks on miles 3, 4, 5 and 6. The heat was also a huge factor for the day. Thank god there were some great veteran runners I ended up pacing with that kept encouraging me and telling me that I was doing well and the course really was "sadistic". Otherwise, I think it would have been even harder. This 10k completely suprised me at its difficulty and was very discouraging, especially after a week of great training runs. Even with the heat and nasty trail layout, my splits were not what I wanted them to be. I'm now officially worried about my ability to meet my goal and have a good race for the Philly Distance Run, but there are 8 weeks until that race, so I just need to stay focused and train, train, train. A few photos... Before the race and hopeful. Standing at the start line. The second sprint to the finish.

very tough day! good on ya for sticking it out - it was brutually hot and humid last weekened and that course doesn't sound like a walk in the park. be proud of yourself for gutting it out!

Don't get discouraged when it comes to your performance on those Trail Races. Sometimes they are just downright brutal. It's all about surviving them. I ran in the North Face Endurance 10K in Bellingham, WA in May and we ran a course that would have killed a mountain goat. I was just glad to say I finished it without puking. Congratulations for holding your own.