Winter Classic 5K Cross Country

It was a last minute decision to go ahead and do this race. I woke up and went for a 10 mile bike ride on my trainer. Just to get the legs loose. About an hour before the race I left the house and drove to the start of the race. The temperature was 36' with a light rain. I was worried about the course. Knowing it was a cross country, what was the condition of the course.<br><br>
After I signed up and inquired about the course conditions, the man laughed and said it is standing water through most of the course. Great I thought, I don't have trail shoes. So off for my warm up around the paved trail to take a peak at the course it self. Yep, standing water alright. the course was basically a 2 1/2 loop course, most of it was on wet, sticky clay.<br><br>
Once I got to the start, the boys (high school and college track teams) were checking out the best places to start. Conclusion, it didn't matter you were going to slip and slide regardless where you were.<br><br>
The gun goes off and slipping and sliding we went. Yes, the standing water was nasty, but the clay made it that much worse as you couldn't get solid footing in most of the turns. Even the straight aways were tough to keep your footing. There was one spot were the water was at least 8 inches deep. Mile 1 was in 6:15, not bad I thought but there is no way I can continue to run this pace.<br><br>
At the start of mile 2 I was right behind a teenager and I tried to drag him along as we started to climb up the hill and return to the start for the second lap. By the time I got back up to the start he had lost pace with me. It took all that I had to keep my footing and not fall in some of the turns. Mile 2 was in 6:28. That is more my speed. But I was hurting from this weeks workouts.<br><br>
Mile 3 started right around the swamp of 8 inches of water. There was no one in front of me within sight that I knew I could catch and no one on my heals for me to speed up. So I got comfortable and just ran and concentrated on not falling and getting hurt. Mile 3 was in 6:30.<br><br>
The final push to the finish looped up onto the track. Overall time was 19:37. Wow much faster than I anticipated in those conditions but I am definately happy with it.<br><br>
1st in my age group, Oh yeah, there was only two of us. Most of the participants were high school and college age. I don't know what my overall place was and I don't know if they will even post it. I am guessing i was around the top 10 to the best that I could tell. Keep in mind there were probably less than 40 people that ran this race.<br><br>
Hope all have a great day.