Today was the first race of the year -at Lewis Morris Park in Morristown, NJ. When Matt and I pulled up, temperatures were around 20 degrees and it felt even colder. The course was all snow or packed snow after a couple of inches fell the night before so I switched from my usual trail shoes to my heavy duty snow trail shoes. The decision proved to be a good one as I had great footing in the snow despite a clunkier ride in the heavy-duty shoe.
The start of the race was a little unorthodox, as Matt and I stood alone at the front of the line. Once we took off, we had company after a couple hundred yards, and after the climbing started I let Matt and the a few others take off. It seemed like endless uphills for the first couple miles and the cold air was zapping my lungs and my legs. I got passed by one or two people and tried to focus on not trying to hammer up the hills too hard. I knew that all of the climbing would eventually lead to snowy downhills. I'm usually the fastest running down a trail, and down a snowy trail would make my advantage even bigger.
I got my first break when I was about to be passed about halfway through the race. I hurdled a fallen tree in stride and took off down a series of hairpin turns in an all-out sprint. After gaining about a hundred yards on my chaser, I never saw him again. Pulling away from someone like they're standing still can really be demoralizing, and there's no better feeling than doing it.
After some more climbing, I had a couple runners in my sights and after a slightly sloped downhill I was quickly on their heels. I rested behind them for about a minute and then took off as soon as the course turned downhill again. Another demoralizing pass- I was in a stride that these guys had no chance to match at this point in the race. I left them way behind and approached another group of five runners. With all of the snow, it was hard to pick out spots to pass. Aside from the packed path of snow, even where the trail was wider it was tough to tell what kind of rocks and branches might lay beneath.
After a quick rest behind the new group, I was growing restless. Only a mile left and I had ground to make up. A huge fallen tree lay across the course with one big piece on the ground and another piece a couple feet above it. A line was forming to get through the biggest opening and I had no patience - I went to the lower side, planted my hands on the low part and swung myself through, passing the entire group and taking off on a full sprint down the hill. I heard a faint "whoa good job" from one of the pack that was now quickly fading.
As the final mile zig-zagged downhill, the trail was narrow and I had to pick the slightly wider spots to bolt past people that I was waiting behind. After picking off five or six more people, I got stuck behind another group of four. My watch was creeping towards 5.0, I still had a lot in the tank, and we were still heading downhill. I needed to pass more people. The last trail marker on this stretch was about 10 feet before the actual course sharply turned almost 180-degrees. In European trail running, you can just jump down the slope to the lower hill but in the US it's frowned upon to cut corners.
Once I got to that last marker, I grabbed it and swung myself around it, cutting off the entire group and sprinting towards the bridge ahead. I freaked out the leader so bad that when he tried to stay with me, his feet went out from under him and if it wasn't for the railing, he would've slid right off of the bridge into a freezing cold stream. After pausing and seeing that he was alright, I targeted the next pair ahead and was on their heels in no time. Unfortunately we were on a 6-inch wide trail above the stream and I was stuck with nowhere to pass. I could feel the finish approaching and was becoming increasing frustrated. Finally after almost a minute I found an opening and took off, crossing the finish line in an all-out sprint and ending up 6th overall out of 69 people.
I was happy with the result, especially since this was the longest I had run all year and considering it was a snow-covered trail. Some of the runners that I was passing were from the 10 and 15 mile races so I don't think I positioned myself too far back in the pack. I still need to get stronger on uphills for sure and will certainly add some hill training before my next race.
And how rude of me to not mention - Matt finished 3rd overall. Full results:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AicDo8QO8h6gdGxBSkVBcWN0Mm5oMWlfSzAxeW9hZ0E&usp=sharing
Placing
Age Group 1/8
Overall 6/69
Splits
1.00 9:48
1.00 9:17
1.00 9:18
1.00 9:35
0.91 7:40
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