#treeoflife5k

[cmjhawk86]

What a messy morning for a race, but that’s trail racing for you, even if it is just the #c&otowpath. I did the #treeoflife5k this morning and so did @lynnucla. Much of the trail was underwater after heavy rains overnight, and my shoes were soaked from the half-mile point onward. Once the shoes became wet, there went my shoelaces, and I had stop to retie them at the mile point. Then I kept slogging along as my #topoathletic MT-2 trail flats got more waterlogged and heavier with each step. I got passed by one guy during the shoe-tying stop which left me in 6th place overall and that’s where I remained the rest of the race as things strung out. The conditions definitely slowed everyone down as the winner, a speedy high school kid, still only ran 19:12, and I know he is much faster than that. As for me, I came across in 23:01, which is well off my standard, but I guess it’s a trail #5k PR. And it was good enough for top finisher in my age group and a @runpacers gift card. Proceeds from this race benefited the #treeoflifesynagogue in Pittsburgh to help it rebuild from that shameful attack last month. We were both happy to be part of the healing process for that, and to put our miles to good use. Thanks to the #safetyandhealthfoundation for putting it on! #runblr #fitblr #trailracing #fallracingseason #fallrunning (at Boathouse at Fletcher’s Cove) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq5Np3khhFZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mv9b6hvj84r5

[cmjhawk86]

One more race to close out the year, this evening. I run the #fairfaxfourmiler any year that I am home for the holidays, so here we go. I don’t have any major race goals for the night but am interested in what kind of a fitness benchmark I get from this. I’ll start a buildup to @cucb in about two weeks. It’s been an up and down 2018 year of running. I ran @njmarathon back in April and had a very tough day, running a PW of 3:51, and that was after good tuneups at both #cherryblossomtenmiler and #parkwayclassic10miler. Still it was my 15th career marathon finish. I bounced back from that bummer to get a 3rd place age group finish in the #fountainheadtrail10k in June. Then I targeted the #crystalcitytwilighter5k in July and got primed for a speedy race, only to have to slog through 5 inches of rain and come nowhere near my goal time. Rain, BTW, sometimes heavy, was a frequent fellow race participant this year, not surprising in this record setting year of DC area rainfall (oh look at what tonight’s forecast is! 🙄). As fall kicked in I got busy with a new job and #xccoaching, which cut into my training time. In early October I scuttled my plan to run the marathon at Richmond, and switched to the #richmondhalfmarathon2018. My fitness was still below par but I managed to have a decent day at 1:39. Then I kept going with the fall races and racked up some solid local AG finishes - 2nd in the #viennaturkeytrot, a win in the #fairfaxturkeytrot4miler, and another AG win in the #treeoflife5k. My last race before tonight was the #jinglealltheway15k which I really didn’t have anything left in the tank for, plus it was a frigid day. So I ran it as a #temporun. According to Strava, I ran 1,564 miles this year, not including whatever I run tonight between warmup, race and cooldown. That's a fairly low total, which I definitely plan to improve on next year; 1800-1900 miles is more my happy place. I'm also paying renewed attention to #crosstraining as I go forward, even it means I don't hit the mileage target. This year challenged me in some new ways but I think I've learned a lot and am eager to take on 2019. But first, let's race tonight! 😎 #runblr #runninggoals (at Fairfax, Virginia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsDv4nuhC9-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=58xcb6tkmlja

[cmjhawk86]

You can definitely see how pace and elevation relate to each other in the #fairfaxturkeytrot 4-Miler. This was me today and the relationship between the blue “mountains” (pace) and the neon green line (elevation) is basically inverse. As was the case last weekend, I didn’t run as fast as I hoped to at 29:03, but still did better than a year ago. And I got the AG win for the day. I definitely need to work on my speed and have a good opportunity for that in my next race, the #treeoflife5k on December 2. But for now it’s 🦃 time! #runblr #fitblr #fallrunning #fallracingseason (at Mantua, Virginia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqfjFJdh2No/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=lhhpxrb6psy7