Post Pineland - Back to Running

In the two weeks leading up to Pineland I think I ran less than 30 miles. Just no time/energy to get out and run. I had hoped to run the whole course a few days before the race but only managed the first 10 miles and ended up covering the rest of the course on a 4-wheeler.

I'd love to write an RD's report of the race, and maybe I will at some point, but there's so much to say I don't know if I can filter it down to something concise. Generally speaking I am extremely happy with how the race went and I think it was our best year yet. This is in large part due to all the volunteers who helped make it happen, particularly those at the aid stations. I heard a lot of positive feedback from runners and that's makes it all worth while. I was also very impressed with all the fine performances by Trail Monsters with many PR's and several people running their longest race to date. We also took home the team prizes for both the 25k and 50k races. And of course I'm wicked psyched for Emma who improved by more than half an hour over last year's time to finish the 50 miler in 7:52 which was good enough for 2nd place female and 11th overall.

Now that the race is over I get to focus on my own running goals, but first I need to figure out what they are. A lot of people at Pineland were asking me what my next race is and I didn't know what to say, I don't have anything big coming up any time soon. My long term goal is the Iroquois 100 is September, so I guess it's time to start training for that. Before Iroquois I've got Escarpement at the end of July so gnarly terrain and lots of big hills are going to be in the plan.


There was a small group at Twin Brook on Tuesday night, I assumed most people were home recovering from Pineland. James and Jeff showed up to run, Emma and Jim to walk and I understand that Erik and Yana came a little bit late but we never crossed paths with them. James was running like he had not just PR'd at 50 miles two days before and was teasing us by hitting all the sprint lines. Jeff was working to keep up (and doing a pretty good job) and I, supposedly the freshest one there, just maintained a steady pace at the back. I guess I still wasn't caught up on my rest and just wasn't feeling like running hard.

time: 47:20
distance: 5.49 miles
pace: 8:38

On Wednesday I was struggling to stay awake at work and worried that I wouldn't have any energy for a run afterwards. I left the office at 5:45 and had just enough time to get down to Back Cove and register for the weekly 5k series. It was in the upper 40's and raining and after a half mile warm-up I wasn't feeling particulary fast. I wasn't wearing my Garmin and I didn't bother to take any of my splits along the way, in fact I didn't look at my wach at all until I crossed the finish line. I just ran a pace that felt like I could just barely hang onto for about 20 minutes and hoped that it would get me in close to there. It turned out to be better than 20 minutes which really caught me by surprise. Since I don't really do much speedwork, although I have been trying to work it in a little more recently, it usually takes me a while to get used to running 5k's. Maybe this is an indication that the Twin Brook sprint lines are starting to pay off since this is the fastest time I've ever logged around the Back Cove 5k course.

time: 19:35
distance: 3.1 miles
pace: 6:19