Runner's World has been putting on a road running weekend in Bethlehem for several years now. This year, they added a trail race. It's on the South Mountain trails that I always run, so I had to go. One of the good things about being fresh after Trilogy was I could race this one. I don't race fast and hard often, so I knew this would be interesting. I'm not used to something this short.
I got there very early, since I was worried about parking. Turns out that I didn't need to. I saw Kristin, Russ, Heather and some other friends before the race. Chatting was good. I ran around a little to get a feel for the course. I thought I was well fueled but had no energy. I knew it could be an ugly day. The course still confused me too.
I wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt. It was a perfect day really. I was sweating some by the end, but it wasn't bad. I'd take this weather all year.
We started near the bottom of the parking lot. This race sold out. Over 250 people, even for a Friday afternoon. I was concerned with the crowd, going into a lot of singletrack. The plan was to go fairly hard out the gate. I lined up even farther forward than I would've liked.
We started in the woods a bit and I took off. My friend Jerry was slightly ahead. I was around 10th or so. We climbed a hill on pavement to start. Then, to my surprise, we went through the disc golf course. This is the most rocky part of the course. I don't know how people didn't get hurt farther back.
I flew past a guy on this technical stuff. My breathing was labored. This was very tough. Not that many people were actually up front and racing, despite the big crowd. I could've and should've laid back much more. Oh well. I was surprising that more people weren't passing me.
I struggled running up the hills. I think I need to work on that. I also might not quite be recovered from last weekend. I plodded up the long paved hill, after we came past the start. I saw my dad and complained how short and fast the race was. Another guy near me agreed.
Somewhere near the top of the climb, Erman ran past me. He's really strong and also clearly ran smarter. We had downhill after that and I was very happy. After a bit, there was a water stop, but I didn't stop.
We had more downhill. However, I could see the leaders coming back up, including my friend Chris, who was near the front. I knew it would be a gradual ascent up. It was good to see everyone in front of me.
I wasn't doing too bad in the standings at this point. Then, we turned around and headed back up. I was hoping that I recovered, but I had not. The worst thing was miles seemed to go by so slowly, even though they were pretty quick.
I struggled running up the hill. Then, I realized the guy behind me was hiking up and I wasn't pulling away. I decided that hiking was a better option at that point. I couldn't believe I was hiking a 4 mile trail race. Oh well, it was the price I paid for going out too hard.
My breathing was so labored throughout this early part. I just couldn't ever recover. I saw Russ and Kristin running together. We did another out and back near the top. This was a tough one too. Again, it was down first and then back up.
By now, the uphills were just killing me and forcing me to hike. I knew I should've been more conservative. I grabbed water at the water stop, when we got back into the woods.
Up next was a gradual uphill. I like this during my training runs. It is easy then though, because I am going easy. Today, it was a struggle. Kristin passed me out of nowhere. She was flying. I felt a little bad that she passed me, but then someone told her she was first woman. I realized they were correct and I felt awesome for her!
She and a couple guys hiked some of the steeper parts of this. After that I knew there was a descent. I used that to my advantage. I was so strong on those. I blasted down and caught Kristin. She wanted me to pass, but I wanted to hang with her. I needed her to pull me along.
I followed her down some fun singletrack. However, I rolled my ankle. We came to one volunteer and I asked about the hills remaining. I thought we'd run out on the pavement soon and have the last little climb. I decided to fly past Kristin again here.
However, as we approached the road, I realized that we were only at 3 miles. The race couldn't be close to over, even though I wanted it to be. We turned and headed back into the woods. It was slightly uphill and I had to hike. I let Kristin back by me.
Then, we got to "it". The worst climb of the course, with less than half a mile to go. I hiked up it, as did most people. I could see Kristin and some guys up ahead. I made myself run some of it, past a telephone pole. My breathing was still labored.
Finally, we got to the water tower. I thought it was all downhill from that point and on smooth stone or pavement, but I wasn't sure. I had downhill legs, so I blasted down this. It was a fun way to finish.
I was flying and gaining a lot of ground on everyone. I passed one guy and gained on Kristin, but her and some of the other guys were simply too far ahead. I finished just under 33 minutes. Kristin was first female and won shoes. How awesome!
I was 20th overall out of 223 finishers (I think). I ended up running about the time I expected, but I sure did crash and burn doing it. The funny thing is this was about the same pace I run in training there. Then, I'm more steady and just cruise around, but I can run everything. No hiking during that. Had I gone out slower and run smarter early, I probably would've been a couple minutes faster. Oh well, lesson learned.
I'm not totally disappointed. I definitely need some faster and harder running. It was good to push myself out of my comfort zone. If I do this again, I'll run smarter for sure. Seeing a bunch of friends was fun too. This was a well put together race.
Tomorrow, Ryan and I are working an aid station at the Water Gap 50K. That should be different and fun. I'm probably going to watch the Runner's World Half Marathon on Sunday. Then, maybe I'll running somewhere like Mt. Tammany.
3.8 miles - 32:55 (8:53 pace) 20th of 233
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