Part Two of the “Serious Series” which is sponsored by the Running Fit chain of sporting goods stores is now in the books.
The race goes by the name “Flirt with Dirt”. . . not 100% sure of what that means. Since the whole race is on dirt trails it is way more than a little “flirting”I would put it in the full fledged “Love Affair” category!
Back on April 26th ’08 I ran part one of the “Serious Series” called the “Road End’s”… that was the one with monster hills mountains that ground you to a halt and reduced me to a quivering struggling blob attempting to run up them.Well this was the next race in the series. The goal is to enter . . . and finish . . . all three of them. In doing so I may get a certificate “suitable for framing” proving I actually am running these races, not just going to the pool hall on Saturday mornings.
The weather did not look to promising as there were heavy thunder-boomers inthe area much of Friday, so I already was anticipating having some soggy feet. . . something I have been getting more of lately. The up side is that it is not thawed slush like it was for several months during the winter. . . that was cold! and is actually somewhat nice to cool down the toes when it is 85+ degrees with 80%+ humidity levels the way it has been lately. The down side is that it seems to make the shoes weigh about five pounds each!
Not only did I get in a great trail run (all 6.2 miles worth) I added another T-Shirt to the small, but growing, collection.
Some Stats for the Race:
a) 10K, or 6.2 miles.
b) ran at a 11:46 pace (1:13:01 total time) Dang, this really sucks!
c) finished 311 out of 374 overall, so finished in the top 80% of all runners. . . and this really sucks worst ever.
d) finished 13 out of 15 in my age group. So about 85% finished ahead of me…. getting better? Not hardly!!
e) had a great time, which was the real race goal!
The course is at Lakeshore Park in Novi Michigan, and while it is definitely in town, it is fairly large and secluded.
I had visited this park a month ago for a “fun run” on my own just to see what it would be like. (Hmmm.. seems like I remember “racing the rain” that day also, getting back to the carjust before the clouds opened up!) Actually I ended up running more than I planned since I could not find my way back out of the park for awhile! I ended up*GASP* asking somepeople walking what was way back to the parking lot! Maybe a good thing I did since I had already passed the branching trail which went back and was heading off into the middle of thepark again! Needless to say there are a lot of closely packed trails, some marked bike only, some walking/hiking/running only, and I swear someone rotated the sign posts by 90 degrees in several places!
It appears to normally be a real hang out for the off road bikers.
They have log bridges to cross ravines with, and lots of narrow twisting paths so they can collide head on with very solid trees get through the course in the least possible time. There are not the monster “never ending grades” that the “Road End’s” race had, fortunately, but still a lot of up’s and down’s to take the wind out of one’s sails, so to speak. One thing I did not anticipate was the mud! Slipping, sliding, weighing the shoes down, oh my.
Now on to train for the third part of the series “The Legend” which actually leaves me a little bewildered, and with a question on my mind. What was “The Legend” called in the early days before it became a legend…. I always thought something became a legend some time after it happened, or it “earned” the title of a legend.
“The Legend” will be run at Laingsford, up near Lansing Michigan on August 2, 2008.
See part one of the three part race series at:
“The Road Ends 5 Mile Trail Race” also billed as “No Wimps Allowed!” race in Pinckney Michigan.
Until the final hill is conquered,
