WWC River Jam – July Edition
I got out of my car yesterday at the WWC to face a shearing
heat and oppressive humidity. I don’t think that there is any way that I could
have felt more lethargic warming up.
When I feel this way, the negative thoughts of why I am
doing this have their way with me.
Luckily, the storm clouds pushed into the area just before
race time. This helped drop the temperature a few degrees but the rain stayed away.
However, the shade cast by the clouds made the trail oh so
dark. At some point, one might even consider wearing a head lamp.
Standing at the starting line, I wondered how much having run a 50k just 7 days ago would leave my legs with a heavy feeling.
Everyone jumped out quick as we circled the channel.
Six of us were running together when we entered the trails.
Over the next couple of miles, Troy, Evan, and I worked past them.
We stayed together. Hitting the Lake Loop, I expected one or
both to push past me. I gave them a several opportunities to pass. They never
took me up on it so I settled in to lead our little group.
Exiting the trails into the gravel parking lot, we were all running hard. Evan and Troy pushed ahead of me at
the hill by the upper parking lot.
They gapped me topping over the hill, and I was not sure that I could
catch up.
Evan was pushing on but Troy, I caught by the bridges. I
encouraged him to stay with me. On the other hand, Evan was putting just too
much distance on me. I was not going to catch him.
I crossed the finish line in 46:51 which was actually one
second slower than I ran in June. Having Troy and Evan with really helped keep me
rolling along much faster than I would have otherwise. This placed me 4th
overall and 1st in my age group.
This brings me to 3 River Jam races down and two more to go
this year. I am racking up races faster than I did last year.
Tails from the Trail,
The Cool Down Runner
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