Fall Series II (4.5 mi): Bear Creek Park

I imagine that I feel somewhat like the Detroit Tigers right now...a little deflated.  I've been humbly defeated by a twelve year old girl, whom I look forward to following, in the coming years, during the cross country season.  Comparing this race to Fall Series I, I was not competing as strong.

Ready to warm-up together

Pre-race stretching

The starting line

 The race begins at the soccer fields in Bear Creek Park.  You run entirely around the field at the start of the race.  This year, to get to the trail, we had to run through a field of weeds and cacti.  On our warmup, Duane regretted his trail flats.  Apparently, cacti and flats are not a great combo.  After this debacle, you hit a wide section of trail to climb, climb, and climb.  It was about mile one when one of the Baxter twins passed me.  I instantly knew that I had gone out too hard.  Soon after, the female ahead of me in the series passed, and I knew I was hosed.  I didn't even have the juice to put up a fight.  I have a lot of excuses for my lack of performance, but it all boils down to life getting in the way.  But, that's just part of amateur running.

Excellent park for some baby and grandma fun, while mommy and daddy get crazy.

 The course continues to climb, then winds down toward some creek crossings, only to have some stair and hill climbs around mile 2.5-3.  After about 3 miles, the race becomes a downhill fight, one that I could've pushed a little harder.  I've always been a strong downhill runner, but didn't show it today.  Following the water station, there are a couple of short uphill climbs.  The race finishes with winding downhill switchbacks that dump into a creek bed.  Runners cross the creek twice, then rope climb a steep, muddy wall.  A downhill finish pushes into hay bales stacked two high.  At this point, a female runner passed me.  Though she got a few seconds on me, I'm still ahead of her in the series. 

Duane coming in for a strong finish.  You can see the hay bales in the distance.

Approaching my final creek crossing.

The rope climb

 I didn't expect to run this series as strong or as seriously.  While it's fun to compete, I'm a little reluctant about race IV.  Duane and I will be racing as a partner relay team in the Rim Rock Marathon the day before, and I think we can win the co-ed division.  However, I don't think either of us will be racing our "A game" in Palmer Park the next day.

Fall Series I (3.5 miles): Attack of the underdog!

Jaclyn writes:

I am never excited about running half a mile or so UPRIVER...in a creek.  Then, getting out of the water only to encounter ridiculous hills.  But, hey, that's the Fall Series for ya.  The race starts at the high school cross country starting line and runs, north, along the creek in Monument Valley Park.  The first 1.5 miles are relatively flat, followed by a steep downhill to enter the creek.  The course, loops around the creek before this point.  Creek running was tough, deciding whether or not to commit to the run or trudge into a walk while trying to find solid ground.  At some point, a spectator told me I was in second place.  I knew he was wrong, but it made me realize that I was doing much better than anticipated.  I was actually in fourth place at this point.

After the creek, I lost one place by a couple of seconds, but I was quickly losing my motivation.  I was hungry, from improper pre-race fueling, and the steep hills (by steep I mean all fours on deck) were tough.  I ran my heart out to the finish (31:46 and 5th female).  My "secret overachieving goal" was to be in the top ten...the goal I shared was top 15, so I'm pretty happy with my result.  This series tends to be ridiculously fast, and I hope to keep up my times for a strong overall finish.  I've run this series as a middle-of-the-packer and a back-of-the-packer in different times of health, training and pregnancy.  It's exciting to be out front.   

Duane had an amazing finish at 26:59 and 11th overall.  He lost some push running in the creek, mainly because of a cold we had been fighting all week.  I'm hoping that we will stay in good health to race strong during this "downtime".