Running among protests and pandemics

On Wednesday night I ran the third Dirt Cheap Trail Race of the year at Mendon Ponds park. I finished the course in 50:54 which is just 13 seconds behind my time from last year. Given how physically and emotionally drained I felt following the past week of protests, and how almost all training this year has gone out the window, I was surprisingly happy with this result.

Like the previous two dirt cheap races this was run as a time trial in order to minimize crowding along the trails. Perhaps this solitary running would encourage me to run my own pace instead of going out too fast, but I felt a bit sluggish. Roughly two thirds of the way through the course I was passed by a girl, and while I couldn’t quite keep pace with her, she didn’t completely pull away and I had someone to chase for the rest of the race. This really helped me to finish strong and was probably the closest thing I have had to feeling like I was in a real race since the pandemic started.

Rumor is that there will be another two dirt cheap races in October, but after the excitement of the past week I have officially given up on any long term planning.