Memorial Day 8 Mi. Trail race

 I was thinking that last year this race started at 9 am. However, starting at 8 am did have its perks this year since the temperatures was going to be a lot cooler heading in to the Memorial Day weekend. 

Also on my mind was the rain of this past week. Aside from Friday, I think that it rained just about every day. Trails once wet can take a few days to dry out. The WWC does a great job with their trail maintenance so their trails in even better shape than I expected. 

They separated out the start so the 8 & 5 didn't overlap. Also this prevented anyone from getting confused since we were running slightly different courses. 

Our course took us down to run North Main, South Main, and a 3 mile section of East Main. From the gun, one guys was gone. He gapped everyone going around the channel. I never saw him again. Several us were bunched up behind him. 

The trail has a way of sorting us out. I found myself 3rd place coming off North Main. About 1/2 through South Main, I moved in to 2nd place. Our 8 mile course overlapped with the 5 mile course so we were working through some of the 5 mile runners. 

Coming off the South Main, I had opened a small gap, but I was non to certain about it heading in to East Main. 

I could tell that 3rd place was closing ground. What I didn't know is if we would run out of race before I ran out gap space. 

I came off East Main just ahead of him. I was digging up the long gravel road. I thought that I could possible hold him off. 

We went down hill and then across the parking lot. When we hit the last hill, he clearly had an extra gear because he hit the hill at a full sprint. I couldn't match it, and he gapped me. At this point, I just hung on and tried to keep it close. 

To me this is the best part of racing. I get the chance to match wits, and hopefully, I can pull something out of myself that I never thought possible. 

Best of luck in all of your races, 

The Cool Down Runner