Notes
Another year, another Governor's European Style XC Race. Once again, Drew and I. Once again, we are unsure of any competition until we arrive. This time it is Phil Young (I don't know about his HS or College days, but he's 2 years older than us and has some better half and full marathon times; 1st time he's done this race since HS though). I was hoping for competition, though once it's in front of you, of course I just wanted an easy race :)
The race started similar to last year as I just made sure I got away from the start well and only had to deal with a few costumed characters in the first minute (is it just me, or are high schoolers doing better at not sprinting at the start?). Drew stayed right with me and I gave him the lead before the first trail entrance which was obstructed by a hay bail (lots of bails this year). I don't think either of us were feeling great yet, but I think it's better to control the race in that situation.
After just a few stream crossings, we opened back up to a wider path that we warmed up on as Phil caught back up (deja vu anyone?). Phil picked up the pace, but not by much. We all cruised together until the 2 mile (well more like 20min), with the only change-up being when Phil missed a turn and I took the lead. Phil did a good job leading, but he would lose some ground through some of the debris and hills while I was leading.
After a long stretch on nice grass, we got into some rugged terrain again. Drew was leading at this point and we started pulling away from Phil on a tough stretch of jumping over and ducking under logs. Next up was a long and windy (though not too steep) uphill of singletrack. We started pressing here to make sure this would be the gap to win the race (though we were cautious as we were only 25minutes into a race that is usually around 45minutes long).
Our move succeeded in putting 30sec to a minute between us, and it's a good thing we did as the next mile skipped the difficult terrain and instead was very plain: long straight stretches without much change in elevation. But due to our experience, we also knew we were heading quickly back to the finish and should be fine. One more section of stream crossings (with apologies to the 2 mile short course participants), and we were home free. I gave the win to Drew (though looking back at last year's log, I guess it was my year to win).
Shorter course this year (race directors said 4.87 miles), but somehow everything worked out similar to other years. It seems that no matter the distance, we manage to break our competitors at the right time, and to expend the right amount of our own energy. I don't know how this race will foretell how Living History Farms will go, but at least the streak continues.