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Category: Mendon Ponds (page 2 of 2)

Three trails in three days

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This past weekend I ran three times to complete the Dirt Cheap Stage race. This was the fourth, fifth, and sixth times that I ran the trails at Mendon Ponds this year.

The first stage was a three mile run on Friday night. While I have run night races before, I was not prepared for just how dark it was in those woods. Difficulty in seeing the trail, turned out to slow me down even more than the hills did. I finished with a time of 33:35 which placed me 84th and in the top 33 percentile.

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The second race on Saturday morning was ~5.5 miles and followed a course similar to the Dirt Cheap race in April. This was the muddiest of the three legs, and also the one where I had the quickest pace. I finished in 91st place with a time of 49:18.

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On Sunday morning, the weather was actually nice for the final run of the race. This leg was 11 miles through the woods. I decided to carry water with me after that had worked out for the Can Lake 50k. This leg took me just over two hours to complete, and landed me as 98th across the line.

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Overall I had a total time of 3:23:38 which placed me in 87th place overall and in the top 39th percentile. Next week, my final race of the season will be the Turkey Trot in downtown Buffalo.

A return to Mendon Ponds Park

11930998_851941311541162_9115350069976101611_cropOn Wednesday I ran my third race of the year at Mendon Ponds Park. While I have now done a number of runs in this park it was my first time on this particular course, and I finished the unknown distance in 48:44. This was good enough to put me in 74th place and the top 29th percentile.

Given that this was the final race in the Dirt Cheap racing series, there is also a set of overall standings for the series. I don’t quite understand the formula that they are using for these standings, but I have finished 75th overall.

My next race is the Rochester Marathon where (despite not having a flat course) I will be trying to improve upon my time from the Buffalo Marathon in the spring.

Mendon Mauler

mendonYesterday I returned to trail racing by running the 12 mile Mendon Mauler at Mendon Ponds Park. The race consisted of three four-mile loops and is by far the longest distance that I have ever ran on trails.

It was a rough course of almost all hills, and even required dodging turtles and horses. I started off fairly well, but by the end I was pretty worn out. This can be seen in my lap times of 46, 47, and 56. I finished with an overall time of 2:31:18 which was good enough for 49th place.

I will be doing a shorter trail race next Wednesday as part of the Dirt Cheap series. My goal is to finish under 44 minutes to beat my previous best time at Lucien Morin Park.

First race complete

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Yesterday I finished the first race of the season, completing 4.8ish miles worth of hills and mud in 51 minutes and 22 seconds. This is almost six minutes quicker than the last trail race I ran at Mendon Ponds park.

While the full selection of trails was not exactly identical, the times of the top runners actually seem to indicate that last night’s course was slightly more difficult. Overall I was pretty happy with my result, finishing in the top 35th percentile (versus the 63rd percentile in July 2013).