On thursday night I ran the Innovative Edge Cross Country race at Cobbs Hill Park. I finished the 5k course in 29:20 which is slower than I ran the same course in 2023 or 2022.
My knee was still bothering me in this race, but I ran the first mile in 8:20 which felt like a decent pace. However as the race went on the heat started to catch up to me and I slowed down a bit.
My next race is likely to be the August Run Our Trails race back in Mendon Ponds.
On wednesday night I ran the ON XC in the Park race at Cobbs Hill. I believe that this is the first 2k race that I have ever run, and I finished in 10:13.
The decision to run this race was made a bit last minute, but as the shortest race that I have run in years, there was very little downside to not doing any specific training. I decided to do my best to take the course a full speed, but the uneven grass and the giant hill in the middle of the course slowed me down a bit. I feel like I finished with plenty still in the tank, but I am unsure of which section I could have reasonably increased my speed.
My next race will be the Run our Trails series in Mendon Ponds at the end of July.
On Thursday night I ran a 5k Cross Country race at Cobbs Hill park. I finished with a time of 25:13 which was quick enough to secure 20th place. While this is not a fast overall time for a 5k, it is over three minutes quicker than I did on the same course last year.
When running a race this short it is always tempting to go at an all out 100% pace, but this course is hilly enough for that to be a mistake. Still with the opening mile mostly flat I felt like I got off to a quick start before slowing down on the long steep climb up the hill. After that the course has some fun trails, but given the distance there remains so much pressure to keep going quick. Overall a significant improvement from last year, so hopefully things keep going that way in the fall.
On Thursday night I ran the Innovative Edge Cross Country 5k at Cobbs Hill park. I finished the race in 28:20 which is not that quick, but is more or less consistent with the pace I have been running most races this year.
I ran the first mile in under eight minutes, but unfortunately lost some pace running up the hill after that. I could blame the heat, but I think the real issue is that I am having trouble breaking out of the pace that serves me well in 10+ mile distances but comes across as a bit slow in the shorter races.
On Tuesday night I ran a one mile race at Cobbs Hill Park. This was my first time running the mile since high school, and I was not sure what to expect for a race this short. I have not even ran anything as short as a 5k this year, but I figured that I would give it a go and aim for a six minute mile.
From the start it was clear that this was going to be a sprint, and was not really a pace that I was comfortable with. I finished the first third of a mile at two minutes, which was right on pace but I knew there was no way for me to continue going that fast. I finished the next two laps with a pace of 2:30 each, giving me a total time of seven minutes.
So apparently my mile isn’t quite as quick as it was back in high school. Good thing I plan on spending the rest of the year going longer distances at a slower pace.
On Wednesday night I ran another winter trail race at Cobbs Hill. With a course that was significantly different from the last two times, I finished in 22:53. This put me in 58th place in the race, which is better than the last two races on both an overall and a percentile basis.
I felt good through the race, and for the first time in quite a while I didn’t have to worry about ice. I actually paced myself a little bit too slow as the course was a bit shorter than I had anticipated.
On Wednesday night I ran my second Snow Cheap race this winter, and my first race of 2017. This was two laps through the snow of Cobbs Hill Park.
My finishing time of 40:12 was slightly quicker than my last race (albeit on a slightly different course). Despite this I didn’t feel to great in this race as my limited running over the past month was catching up to me. Most of the improvement in my time is probably due to me simply managing to finish the two laps without falling.
On Wednesday night I ran the Snow Cheap race at Cobbs Hill Park. I finished the 3.7ish miles in 41:06 which placed me 77th overall.
For my first race in over a month, I felt ok. I was way too overdressed, and was overheating on the first lap. I also fell twice, on the icy downhill the first lap, and after tripping over something in the woods towards the end of the second lap. You can’t really tell too much from a night trail race over the snow, but at least these events are fun. I will probably do a few more in the beginning of 2017.
In what is hopefully my final cold weather race of the year, I finished the two laps of Wednesday’s Snow Cheap race in 42 minutes. The course at Cobb’s Hill was a mess of snow, ice, and rain that made running difficult for many parts of it. Yet, I only took one real fall.
I finished in 62nd place, which puts me in the top third of finishers. My next few races should be back on the road, where I will not have to spend as much effort watching my steps.
On Wednesday I ran the Snow Cheap race at Cobb’s Hill Park. Unlike the last race in this series, this time there actually was snow. Not so much snow that the race was all that different from a typical trails run, but enough to make me slow down on the downhills, and enough to make the course pretty.
A different course than last time, I finished the race in 31:00 which placed me in the top 35% of finishers.
On Wednesday I ran the first race of this year’s Snow Cheap series at Cobb’s Hill Park. Emphasis on the word hill. Just for fun the course even finished with a twenty foot (no seriously 20 feet) hill of leaves to run over.
The course was roughly three miles, which leaves me happy with my time of 25:18. This was significantly faster than I finished the first leg of the Dirt Cheap Stage Race under similar conditions in November.
I placed 87th in the race, which places me in the top quartile of all runners. Maybe next time, there will even be snow.