Sugarcreek 5 Miler

I wanted to do one last race sponsored by the Ohio River Road Runners Club (read: well organized and free for members) and this one couldn't have been better! It was held in the ever-popular Sugarcreek Metro Park near Bellbrook. The technical trails made for a very interesting trail race. Thankfully, the footing was a lot better than during the torrential rains we had at the Twin Creek 10k. But it was still a race full of uphills, downhills, tree roots, and rocks.

I went straight to the park after work and was very glad I did. The parking lot was almost full a good hour before the race start. The race organizers told us that there were two other group activities going on at the same time, which didn't surprise me considering the popularity of Sugarcreek. I had plenty of time to drink some water and stretch out. The stretching out was especially important due to my lack of sufficient training. I was really just looking for a nice workout for my last race in the Dayton area.

I don't have any split times as it's difficult to mark miles at a trail race. We started out with some technical trail right off the bat. A winding downhill greeted us at the start, followed by some winding paths. The hills weren't terrible but you could tell they were there. I started off at a conservative pace and simply ramped it up a bit on the downhills. Overall, I felt great! A tough section came around at roughly two miles in when we ran a winding downhill, crossed a stream by jumping on rocks, and then making our way uphill. The uphill was awkard because it was steep and narrow. Some runners tried running to the side, while others attempted to climb up using some huge rocks. This is the kind of stuff that makes trail running fun. You can't simply zone out and go. You have to look down and constanly watch where you are going. The halfway point was well marked, so we could get a sense of where we were on the course. I still felt pretty good but had an issue arise just past the half way mark. A rock had found its way into one of the grooves on the bottom of my shoe and was hitting the ball of my foot. It hurt quite a bit so I considered stopping. For about a second. My time was still good and I could still run on it so I tried to forget about it. Note to those reading this blog- Don't do that! Just stop and take the rock out. My foot was hurting for a few days after the race.  The second half was easier than the first half and I finished strong with a 41.27.  Surprisingly, that was good enough for third in my age group, so I'm 3/3 placing in trail races.  I will greatly miss these ORRRC races, but I'm excited to run new races in the NW Ohio area.

Next race- Either Team Jenny 5k or Run with the Little Giants 5k, both in Fremont.

Casey Terrell Memorial 5k

I'm late on my race reports due to a job change coupled with a move. I just moved out of the Dayton area, but had two races (naturally) before I left. This first one was a couple of weeks ago in Xenia. I've had great luck running races in Xenia by placing in the two 5ks I've ran there and getting a PR at the half marathon. But my training has taken a hit due to this move. My realistic goal was to just run a good, hard race.

This course was interesting. We started out by crossing the parking lot at the FOP Lodge to get to a steep and long downhill toward the bike path. I wanted to start out at a conservative pace and run negative splits but this start did not allow for that. I flew down the hill and immediated knew that I was running way too fast. This was a small 5k with no mile markers, so I'm not sure what kind of splits I ran, but the first mile was way too quick. Next, we made our way to the bike path (the same one we run during the ORRRC Half) for a nice, flat straightaway. I had no problem with this portion of the race until we got past the halfway point. I knew I was in the top five, but I wasn't sure if I could hold this kind of pace. I had stopped passing people and the next person was a good 50 meters away. Instead, I focused on not getting passed during the second half of the race. We continued along the bike path, until roughly the 2.3 mile mark, until we made our way to that hill again. Except this time we had to make a long trek up this thing. I struggled uphill and just managed to keep my position. A quick left turn back into the parking lot and I had a solid 21:29 and a fourth place finish! Not too bad for managing very little training over the past few weeks.

I did stick around for the awards and I did wind up winning my age group. This was a very well organized race which I would run again if I wasn't out of the area. The goodie bags actually had useful stuff in them and the snacks after the race were fantastic. Next up is my last race in the Dayton area.