Three Races in Three Days

This weekend I ran the Dirt Cheap Stage Race at Mendon Ponds Park. The theme of these races seemed to be that I was spending more effort fighting against the terrain rather than the distance. The hills, mud, and rain slowed me down far more than the millage did.

The friday night race could be best described as being dark and stormy. Half an hour before starting things looked good, but as the race started there was a torrential downpour and it got dark fast. Most of this race was just trying to make it to the finish. There are three steep hills on this course that I had to walk up, and with the dark and the rain I had slow way down even on some of the downhills as I did not trust my footing.

I finished the first leg in 42:05 which is on the slow side, but the past two times I ran this race I had better daylight as the clocks had not yet been moved back.

The weather was much better on saturday morning where I ran the 5ish mile course in 51:50. I got off to a good start, but then lost my footing on a downhill and slid a few feet into a tree. This threw off my pace for a bit, but I got back into a good rhythm by the end of the course.

Sunday was back to rain, and while I felt good running I lost a lot of time being overly cautious on the downhills. Between falling the day before, and injuring myself in this same park two weeks ago I lost a lot of time taking the downhills without any real speed.

I finished the third day with a time of 2:09 which was slower than most of the times I have run this course in the past, but finished strong as navigating the course was more taxing than the actual running.

My next race should be the Buffalo Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.