photo by Takao Suzuki
It had been a few months since I’d run an event but I started running again lightly a few weeks ago and decided it was time to get back with my tribe and do an event. The Cougar Series had already started and I wasn’t up for 8.2 miles so I signed up for the new 5k option which was mainly for beginning trail runners to get acquainted with the sport but heck, Eric Bone was running it too so I knew there would be a few of us who were not newbies.
The day was perfect, temps in the 50s at the start and the trails were in great shape since we’ve had no rain to speak of. I opted to run in my Luna Sandals since it was such a nice day and I knew the 5k loop was pretty mellow with only 350′ of gain. I toed the start line so I could stay ahead of a lot of the new runners and hopefully not have to pass on the single track at all. We started and a few of us took off fast, Eric was cruising from the start like Flash. The run started down the road and I was pretty much immediately in 5th place overall and ended up staying there. I lost track of Eric before the single track turn-off but could still see everyone else in front of me make the turn.
The loop was easy enough, some single track, some road. I got passed by a few of the longer distance fast runners but by no one doing the 5k. On downhills I’d occasionally hear someone getting closer to me but then on the uphill I’d gain distance again. I picked it up when there was about 1/2 mile to go but then realized I’d picked it up a bit early when I got to the real final stretch but I was able to keep going at that pace. Crossed the finish in 26:59 officially, my watch showed 26:44 so I’m not sure what that was about. Kept an 8:30 pace which is pretty good for me on a trail run, that was my old half marathon road pace when I was 20 years younger. 5th overall, and 2nd in my age group. Eric, by the way, ran a course record of 19:44. The Lunas did great, glad I chose to run in them and it was good to be back out there on the trails. Next up, Rattlesnake 5-mile on next Saturday. I originally was hoping to do the half there but there is no way I’m up for that climb yet.