Great Mohican 19k...err...17k

I ran a terrific race at the Great Mohican 17k at nearby Pleasant Hill Lake a few weeks ago and still have not posted my race report.  The race was fun, but there were definitely some big areas in which the experience could improve.  I had signed up for the 19k but road construction forced the organizers to make it a 17k.  No big deal as that was out of their hands.  However, the race was so small it was kind of weird.  The main events were the triathlon and duathlon, which had 22 and 2 participants, respectively.  The 19k had only 7 participants.  There's quite a running community in the Mansfield and Wooster areas, so it seems like some better advertising would help. 

My main problem with this race were the water stops was that there was only one water stop.  Seriously.  A ten and a half mile race in early August had only one water stop.  I was going to bring a water bottle with me but the organizers said there were two stops.  The only one I saw was at the 3 1/2 mile mark, leaving 7 miles without any water.  I made it, but I do wonder how the others in this race fared.

We headed out from the beach area to start the race and I settled into an easy pace.  My main goal was to run a nice, easy pace and use it as training for the upcoming East Bay Half Marathon.  I tucked in behind the two lead runners for the first couple miles, as we wound our way away from the park and onto some country roads.  The hills were simple rollers at this point.  I decided to make a move and humor myself by taking the lead early on.  I was on my own from then on.

The course wasn't too scenic and it was constant up-down, up-down.  Seriously, these hills were killers.  The only race I have done with tougher hills was last year's Mad Half Marathon in Vermont.  This one was constant hills.  The worst part was that I had to fly downhill each time as many of the hills were so steep you couldn't go down at an easy pace.  I walked up many of them and flew down the other side which kept my time respectable.  I was hovering around 8-9 minutes per mile.  I don't have exact splits for this race.

We made a long loop on country roads before making our way back to State Route 95, taking us back to the lake.  I kept looking behind me but couldn't see anyone.  I really eased off the gas over the last two miles as I knew I had the win and wanted to save my legs.  I spotted ever encouraging GF at the finish and high-fived her on the way in.  My finishing time was 1:20:20 which isn't far off of my normal half marathon pace.  The downhills really helped me gain time because I walked A TON in this one.  This counted as my fifth road race victory and I did get a very nice personalized plaque for my efforts. GF and I were able to take a dip in the lake after the race.  That helped my legs immensely!  Next on the docket is state number 13.

Next race: East Bay Half Marathon- East Providence, RI