Castlewood Cup Trail Race : Feb 28th

1st Annual Castlewood Cup Trail Race (10.1mi)
Castlewood State Park, St. Louis, MO


I woke up a little before 6am on Saturday to make sure I was ready to pick up Marcus and his buddy Mark by 7am. It was in the mid-20’s when we left town and did not get much warmer before the 10am start. We layered up, checked in and got our race numbers. The temperature had raised to a warm 31 degrees, so we walked back to the car and sat inside until ten minutes to go. After standing the bathroom line for that ten minutes, we were off!

I hadn’t had a chance to run much distance before this race, due to poor weather and I can’t handle running more than 7 miles in the Rec Center. So I thought this race would be a good test and looked at it mostly as training. With that said, I tried to run my butt off! After an easy mile loop on flat, soft grass we hit the first climb and the men were separated from the boys. Unfortunately, I think I was one of the boys today! Running inside on a flat track did not prepare me for the hills I would run today. After the first rocky climb, I caught my breath and got to work. I lead a group of 5 or 6 from mile 3-7ish, with a very heavy breather right behind me….so annoying! I kept waiting for him to pass, but the single track didn’t give us much room. I pulled over at about mile 7.5 for a quick GU…yuck, vanilla. I let heavy breather go and then pushed to finish hard. We came back down hills to finish the last couple miles on flat ground, along with a creek crossing at mile 9. The water wasn’t too high, but I knew it would make for a cold, heavy-footed final mile. I was able to pass a few people in the creek and over the next mile and crossed the finish line right behind my heavy breathing friend.

(Marcus and I at the finish)

Volunteers had space blankets for us and passed out 180 energy drinks (I could of used one before.) I had a hot dog and a handful of M&Ms for my post-race chow. We then changed clothes and hit the road.

Review:
Race : B+, well coordinated for first annual, but could have had a better post race spread.
Effort : B, wasn’t a bad race for me, but wasn’t fantastic. I found out where my fitness was and have an idea of some things to work on. GO! St. Louis Marathon is coming up soon (Apr 19th.)

Quick numbers update...
February:
Swim: 12,200m
Bike: 84mi
Run: 94mi

YTD:
Swim: 29,600m
Bike: 170mi
Run: 166.65mi

KC Groundhog 10k : Race Report

The 27th annual running of the Children's TLC Hunt Midwest Groundhog Run took place early this morning in one of the most impressive venues -- The Hunt Midwest Subtropolis. The Subtropolis is the world's largest underground business complex, featuring 5 million square feet of lease space and nearly 7 miles of paved roads. With year-round temperatures between 65 and 68, it is a great chance to run in shorts in January!

Rob, Steve K, Becker, Dan and I drove up in the wind and light snow for the 10am start (5k starts at 9am.) I was excited to start the year off right and was interested to see where my fitness was. I threw out my back 5 weeks ago and had a toe problem after that, so I haven't had too much time to get back on track.

After the singing of the National Anthem, we were off. I took out the first couple miles strong and hit the 5k mark at 21:40ish. I struggled a little after mile 4, but rallied for the final 1.2 miles. I finished in a PR of 44:47 (7:12/mi.) Overall I was happy with my fitness, but a tad disappointed in how I raced...I could have pushed harder.



If you ever get the chance, DO THIS RACE!!! It is amazing. Oh, and they gave out Powerbar Gel Blasts in cola flavor with caffeine...they were good! Give them a try.