Going into this run I wasnt expecting much. I won this race last year and figured I'd just go into it and take whatever it brings me. I was coming off 4 weeks of resting since Disney and 3 weeks of taper before that. So, it's been a while since I was running hard.

After waiting at the start for a while, we finally started out and me and another guy took the lead. We got 2" of fresh snow the previous night so the roads were really slippery. I wore my New Balanace 800 trail shoes for some extra traction, and it helped a bit, but was not a huge improvement even with the agressive sole.

So, we were running basically side-by-side in car tracks for the first mile or so. Shortly after that, we made a right turn into the Abby and he started to pull away. I kept with him for a while, but eventually he just kept pulling away. Just by watching his stride you knew he ran XC someplace in college (and it turns out I was right in that thinking). Perfect stride; looked almost effortless.

As we ran past the first aid station, they just kept the cups on the other side of the road and didn't bother to hand us the cups or anything. So, no water there.

At the turn around (mi 5) we ran through this park. I swear that road wasn't plowed at all. Super slippery and it was hard to hold a decent race pace going through there. Busted through that and back onto the road.

A little ways later, we hit up the aid station that had the cups sitting there. Now they were handing them out, on the right side of the road, so I grabbed some Gatorade. Bad mistake...I went to drink it and instead of it going in my mouth it went into my eyes. Nice. That stung for maybe 1/2 mi, then it went away with a sticky face to show for it.

After the first couple of miles I was pretty much running by myself with no real danger of getting passed. I kept on steady thorughout and after the last long gradual incline, I kicked it down to bring it home. 2nd place OA...Ill take it!

Not come into the race on a month of rest? My time this year was about a minute slower than last that I can only blame on my run fitness and crappy roads.

Got my finishing stuff. Congrat'd the other people coming in and went for a short cooldown jog. Drank my recovery drink and changed into some dry clothes. Went back to the finish line, cheered in Amy.


Snowy, slippery roads. Lack of speed (and training in general) for the 5-6 weeks prior.


Race was put together decently. Not much going on after the run except for hot chocolate, bananas and cookies. Gotta love the block of cheese and chocolate bar you get at the finish line though!