Cross-country race rocks!
Today was the 11.3k cross-country race at Mer Bleu conservation area, about five minutes from my home. The day was glorious; cool to start but by race time I was in shorts and a long sleeve shirt and was overdressed at that. Many were still wearing tights and jackets; they must have roasted in the sun. The course was a double loop, with wide trails and pretty clear footing in most of it, except for the last half kilometre or so, (twice) which was very technical, with lots of roots and other hazards, so blasting through was very dangerous. Several folks were being patched up by the First Aid people.
There were still enough leaves on the trees to obscure the satellites for my Garmin GPS, so I just ran as fast as I could, considering the footing. Finished in 58:11, with an average pace of 5:09 per k, not too bad for me, considering the terrain. While I was technically second in my age group, it was meaningless as there were only two of us. One of my goals is to always place in the top half of my age group, and while that did not happen, I did manage to place in the top 75% of all men, so I was OK with that. The winner in my age group is a phenomenal runner, who was probably about ten minutes ahead of me. Nice soup and bagels after the race, however.
Came home and tackled some more of the gravel pile, to stay loose. I'll do some more tomorrow morning, then do a 5k run over to the massage clinic, where I am treating myself to a half hour massage. Everyone says I will love it.
After last week's race, I noticed a real soreness in the inside of my right knee joint, for no apparent reason. It was very sore until Thursday, but did not cause any problem today and so far there is no sign of it; it just went away.
Getting excited about my upcoming conference in Grand Rapids, with departure from Ottawa on Tuesday and arrival there Wednesday afternoon. Hope to be leading a running/walking group every morning we are there, but based on last year, I think the numbers will be very very small. Like one person, maybe two.
There were still enough leaves on the trees to obscure the satellites for my Garmin GPS, so I just ran as fast as I could, considering the footing. Finished in 58:11, with an average pace of 5:09 per k, not too bad for me, considering the terrain. While I was technically second in my age group, it was meaningless as there were only two of us. One of my goals is to always place in the top half of my age group, and while that did not happen, I did manage to place in the top 75% of all men, so I was OK with that. The winner in my age group is a phenomenal runner, who was probably about ten minutes ahead of me. Nice soup and bagels after the race, however.
Came home and tackled some more of the gravel pile, to stay loose. I'll do some more tomorrow morning, then do a 5k run over to the massage clinic, where I am treating myself to a half hour massage. Everyone says I will love it.
After last week's race, I noticed a real soreness in the inside of my right knee joint, for no apparent reason. It was very sore until Thursday, but did not cause any problem today and so far there is no sign of it; it just went away.
Getting excited about my upcoming conference in Grand Rapids, with departure from Ottawa on Tuesday and arrival there Wednesday afternoon. Hope to be leading a running/walking group every morning we are there, but based on last year, I think the numbers will be very very small. Like one person, maybe two.
posted by Bill Horne | 6:56 PM
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