On Sunday morning I ran the Vale of Three Falls 10k in Letchworth State Park. I finished the hilly race in 54:02, just 8 seconds behind my time from last year.
The first mile and a half of this course was aggressively downhill and even steeper than I had remembered it. I was pretty fast through this portion, but then settled into a comfortable pace. I did ok through the rolling hills in the middle, and didn’t have to really push myself until the big hill just before the turnaround. On the way back I was starting to feel the miles adding up, but felt like my effort remained consistent. However, after coming so close to last year’s time I wished that I had pushed myself just a little bit more.
My next race is the Buffalo Marathon which has been my primary goal throughout the spring. After doing well in the marathon last spring, my plan is to repeat the same strategy and to stick with the 4:10 pace group all morning.