Fleet Feet Dirt Cheap #5
Posted by john on August 21, 2008 in Running
Yesterday was the Fleet Feet Dirt Cheap Trail Race #5. The race itself was good, but the journey there (and home) was a bit rough. I decided to take my road bike to work that morning, which is about 5.5 miles. I made the trip in under 21 minutes, which is a fairly high intensity for me. After work, I rode to the venue (Webster Park). I rode from Henrietta to Pittsford to East Rochester to Penfield to Webster into the park. It was just over 20 miles, but I arrived about 45 minutes early so I would have a bit of rest before the race. This course was the first trail race I had run, except the course was in reverse.
Luckily, this meant that the creek we run through would be near the end (running in heavy, wet shoes slows me down). Also, the creek was much lower this time around, which allowed for a slightly faster time running through the creek. The course itself was a normal trail race, but I had little difficulty keeping up. Since I rode my bike to the race, I opted to run with my CamelBack system (so I could keep all my precious goods with me during the race - not that I do not trust other racers, but without my phone, wallet and keys, I would be lost). I finished slightly ahead of my last time, with a time of 52 minutes and change. I believe the course was about 6 miles, so I am still between 8:30 and 9:00 minute paces on the trails.
I really wanted to stay and party after the race (Fleet Feet is really good about providing food after these races), but it was getting dark and I had a 15 mile bike ride ahead of me still! I wanted to get out of the park and off of Lake Road before it got dark - the park had gravel roads and Lake Road has little to no shoulders. I ended up getting about 1/2 of the way home before it got totally dark, but at one point I lost my rear light on the bike. Since I heard it fall, I ended up turning around and getting the light. The ride was sloooow - I was tired from the race and the previous 20 mile ride. Plus, I had no light on the front of my bike, so I rode a bit slower in order to see where I was going (I should really get a light for the front of that bike!). The worst part was on Blossom near Ellison Park. There is a sweet downhill (curvy and all) before a wicked uphill, but without a light on the front of the bike, I could not take advantage of the downhill as much as I wanted to. The uphill was probably the roughest part of the trip home - it took a lot of doing to make it up that hill! But once I got to the top, I headed for Penfield Road and took Highland to Monroe to home. The incline on Highland, though not too bad, was about all I had left. Once I got to the top of that incline, I could coast the rest of the way home.
Again, Fleet Feet put on a terrific race, and I had a blast. I am thinking that I will NOT ride my bike to the next race for a few reasons:
- It will be dark by the time the race is over
- It will be just 3 days after the Rochester Half Marathon
- I want to stay for the party!
If you have been keeping track, this is my 26th race this year. I still have a few big races planned (the triathlon and marathon), plus a few other smaller races. I have 19 PR’s this season, and I plan on getting a few more. With stats like these, it is very likely that this will be my most impressive running season ever. It will be hard to top this. On the surface, not being able to “do better” sounds bad. But thinking about this further, what it really means is that I have come a very long way this year - this is a good growing year for me. I am happy with that, and I know that even though I may not have as many PR’s in years to come, this year really marks the year that I was able to develop significantly as a runner.
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