I made it to the Bond Brook 5K Trail Race tonight!
This is a big deal for me, as I explain in this post. Although a couple of times during the day and on the way there, I really thought about trying to find an excuse not to go, but I quickly shoved those thoughts aside.
Needless to say, I am glad that I did!
I got to see Jen from Running With the Girls and Dan from Wicked Decent Learning - Dan is from my teaching days
The Race
The race itself was great, however, where is was the first race of the season – a lot of people got turned around. So I am glad that I went to the trail orientation run and then ran it again on Sunday. It helped that I knew the course and where the turns were.
I purposely went out slow and picked it up after we got on the single track. While on the single tracks I felt great, it was on the path/roads that I just didn’t really like it. Oh well, can’t have a whole race be single track, makes it tough to pass.
Not that I am passing too many people.
Overall, my time was faster than I thought it would be, but the GPS only had it 2.46 (did a little correction on this one). Once we got through the first 1/4 I only had one person pass me and helped a few get back on the right trail.
Unofficially, I finished in 27:48 and 17/47 and had a lot of fun pushing myself harder than usual. Even though it was still pretty warm. Here is the link to the official race results.
Lessons Learned
I know that I have to work on speed work and hills.
Also my new neighbors were there and we talked about doing some speed work or hill training together, which will help me because he is faster than I am. He beat me by 20 seconds even after getting turned around, so if I can get a few speed sessions with him, it should help me out and hopefully, I have enough left in my legs to help him too.
Shoes
My Adidas Vigor’s did great, no slipping and sliding and when I stepped on a bunch of rocks wrong, it didn’t kill my feet, so I was very happy with them. They are not lightweight racing shoes, but they protected my feet. Which is what I need more than speed, so they are what I am looking for.
Race Photos
Some other pictures of tonight’s run
This is the part of running that I missed, the social side, where I get to talk with other runners and meet new people.
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The reality is that
I will never be a fast runner, but you know something, as long as I have fun and meet some great people – who really cares.
You know something else – I made it to the starting line and that is a big deal and a lot of progress in my opinion.
Thank you Augusta Trails for putting on the race. Next month I am going to join that organization, it just seems very active and is something that I want to get involved with.
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Jennifer Boudreau
July 12, 2012 at 9:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You did a fabulous job tonight!!! Great seeing you again….til the next race! & it’s too funny you know Dan! I went to college with him!
Harold L. Shaw
July 12, 2012 at 9:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks, I look forward to reading what you thought of trail racing.
This is my first cross country race since high school, I have done a lot of trail running, but this was my first trail race – I know that I had fun and will be back. I met Dan when he first started doing Wicked Decent Learning podcasts and ran across him at a couple of conferences back when I was teaching – Great guy!
It was great to see you again and thank you for the compliments
.
Ali from MSPRun.com
July 12, 2012 at 9:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That looks like a really great race and community! I am jealous you have neighbors! Good job on the run
Harold L. Shaw
July 13, 2012 at 7:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It is a race series that is going on between now and October and I really liked the people that were there, just a lot of fun and a great way to get introduced to trail racing or as I used to know it cross country
.
Aaron Smith
July 12, 2012 at 10:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Nice one man! I love all the photos and it seems like you have a great community there.
Harold L. Shaw
July 13, 2012 at 7:56 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks Smiddy, it was a lot of fun and everyone was great! Probably joining the Augusta Trails in August – great bunch of people.
Dan Ryder
July 12, 2012 at 10:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Great seeing you again, Harold! And thanks for being a great pace setter for me — until I got lost.
Harold L. Shaw
July 13, 2012 at 7:55 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Dan it was great seeing you as well, I wasn’t trying to be a pace setter and I was wondering who it was that was breathing down my neck that first mile. You won’t get lost next time.
Tara Miley
July 13, 2012 at 6:32 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Great first trail race for the season.Way to get out there. I considered bailing out this afternoon too, but very glad I didn’t! I was one of those who got a little turned around (I wasn’t able to make it to the orientation). But no worries, I think I’ll be all set for round 2 next week! Glad to see your GPS was off, mine said 2.86 but I am sure I did the how course (plus a few extra steps)lol. I only did one of these last year, and improved my time by over 4 minutes (granted it’s a different course this year… .but still)!
Harold L. Shaw
July 13, 2012 at 7:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks – Glad you didn’t either next time introduce yourself and we can commisserate, I won’t be there next week, but I plan to make the rest of them. The course had a few places where it was confusing, but I like the terrain and the single track sections. I don’t trust the GPS for accurate mileage anymore, especially with my iPhone 3G, I look at it as just giving me a sort of guestimate and adjust my logs to the correct distance for races. Congrats on the 4 minute improvement that is a big deal!
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