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Saturday February 04 2012
 

National XC Masters Chamionships - Race Report

Printer friendly version Posted on: Sunday November 29 07:53:25 PM
National XC Masters Chamionships - Race Report Funny enough, my first crack at an official Ontario Masters race was for the National Championships. How did I  manage to qualify for the National Championships?

I didn't qualify, but this race, held in Guelph, was also open to all Ontario Masters registered runners. Since I recently registered as an official Ontario Track and Field Association athlete, I was anxious to get out there and run. I have also been excited to try my hand, er, legs at a Cross Country event, especially after seeing Sarah and Cam run their XC races.

Now, as I mentioned, I was in a tough field, among some very strong runners and my only goal was  not to finish last, or rather last in my age group.

This event, which I originally thought was a 5k race turned out to be 8k. No a huge deal but I had to reassess my strategy. Well, not really, I just planned to test out the waters and see what it was like to run on grassy trails, up and down hills completely expecting it to be a half hour of pain.




HalfwayAnd that it was, 4 loops of a 2k route that started on the higher ground for the first km and headed downhill to the 2nd km where it rolled up and down before looping back a long uphill to the start/finish area. The hills were not good to me as I had yet to purchase spikes and had a hard time gripping the ground, and as well, my hamstring still does not like climbing hills, something that I normally have  no issues with. I also ran the first loop too fast which made the final 3/4 of the race rough.

Loop 2 was spent trying to recover from the fast loop 1 and I got passed by several people ... with ages posted on our backs, I was humbled by being passed by several '45' and '50' category runners not all whom were male. These were strong runners.

Loop 3 had me wondering what I was doing there and not sure if there was even anyone behind me anymore! I caught a glimpse through the trees and realized I was not last. I actually passed a couple of people at the end of loop 3 and set my sights on a couple more.

Despite running the final loop almost as fast as loop 1 I was unable to catch more than one person, and I finished 10 seconds behind a guy in my age group that turned it on as I approached him.




FinishI finished the 8km course in 34:52, a fair bit slower than I would have run a flat road race in but pretty satisfying based on a few concerns that I had, such as many late nights in a row this week, off to work early every day and terrible pre-race Friday night (beer, wine and dinner consisting of only cheese and crackers!)

I was 26/27 in my age group and 129 of 167 overall. I know I can do better than this but it will take a bit more discipline to get there. Next year, maybe less focus on marathons and more focus on shorter distances. We'll have to see how it goes.

For now, it was a joy to be a part of this racing community.

The remainder of the day was spent recovering and getting ready for the weekend's 2nd event, The Chilly Willy Half Marathon....race report coming soon!
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 COMMENT 
 Posted by Dave on: Sunday November 29 07:53:25 PM

Comments:

email icon   comment bubble Linda Bird
 

When something is new like this I always coast it the first time.It sounds like you were tired from your early mornings and pre race evenings so all in all for your first attempt I say well done.You have had a super year

and my goodness 13 Marathons is just an amazing record and to qualify for Boston as well.Good for you.See you around soon.


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Posted on: Monday November 30 09:34 PM