Notes
Red Apple Farm's Field, Forest, and Orchard 5k. I was hoping to run more along the lines of 17:15, but I'll take this too. The course was pretty hard, it was basically a cross country course. The first mile was through an orchard for about 200m and then onto a rolling, but gradually sloping down, trail for about 3/4 of a mile, then it opened up into a campground parking lot where the first mile marker was. The second mile was all road, a lot of downhill, with a big climb at the end. The third mile was about 7/8 trail, with a little road portion to connect back to an orchard which led to a trail, and then up a little grassy hill to the finish. There was a TON of uphill in the last mile.
My splits were 5:33, 5:23. and 6:36 for the last 1.125 miles. Obviously disappointed with the fade at the end, since it's pretty large, but the last mile was easily the hardest of the course. I still think I'm in closer to 17:00-17:15 shape on a flatter course with better footing. The trails were really rocky and rooty, and I saw a guy basically break his ankle about 300 meters in, so I was definitely moving a little slower than I'd have liked in the trail sections. I also had to pretty much stop at one point because the trail was pretty narrow and I was convinced I was in the wrong spot, since I came out in what looked like a backyard. So I just stood there for 5-10 seconds looking around, and then someone came around the corner and told me I was going the right direction.