Blood, Sweat, and Beers

LEAD PACK!

Between last weekend and now, I got the flu or something and have been a bit distracted. Getting a race report done here seems kinda trivial considering how short the race was, so a lean writeup seems appropriate. I can start by saying that the run was very well organized and I am super grateful to the RD for finding a place for two ARC employees in a race that some other shoe store was sponsoring. Unfortunately, the one place where the race failed to live up to its billing was as a "trail race". Seemed to me that about half of it was on the paved dam roads that AR50 runners know so well. I knew that I wouldn't have the foot speed to win on an easy course (easy as in technicality, the elevation for a ten+ miler was actually quite tough). This was the theme of the race for me, push it on the technical descents (of which there was only really 1+) then try not to get blown away on the paved or fireroad stretches. The best I can say is that I definitely got beat by some faster runners than myself, but I also feel confident that I beat a handful of guys that I probably shouldn't have. All in all it adds up to what I think was a pretty meaningful racing practice and maybe motivation for a lot of folks to get off the pavement and onto the trails (mixed blessing).

The winner put over six minutes on me.