Evening Cross Country Race Recap

scenic hills that look nicer than they actually are

Saturday I ran a 5k in the evening, less than 12 hours after running a 5k that morning. This was different from last month when I ran two races 12 hours apart on two different days, since I got a decent night's sleep in between the races. This time I rested and dozed off for a few minutes, but I definitely went into this race already tired.

This was a tough race, but I liked it. I liked the course, which was a mix of fields and woods, which is my favorite. It felt quite reminiscent of my favorite high school cross country races, except those were flatter. There were a lot of hills on this course and some of them were steep, which made for a challenging course.

But as I keep saying, if I were better trained, it wouldn't be so bad. One of these days I'll actually have the time to spend more time on the treadmill, but I can only do so much in a day and the treadmill is losing out to other things more often than not. It's not permanent, so I'm not stressing about it too much.

Running two races on Saturday was a first for me. I didn't get enough sleep Friday night, so I went into the morning race tired. I managed to doze a few minutes after getting home, but not for long. I had thought about working on a project, but in the end just decided to rest and read a book.

The first half mile or so was pretty rough (it had a long steep hill that didn't help), but after that I settled in and it wasn't so bad. I walked the up hills and jogged the down hills like I usually do.  The first mile was through fields and past a small vineyard, then most of the second mile was double track through the woods. The double track was quite nice- smooth with very few rocks and roots, so I didn't have any problems with it. The third mile took us back around close to where we started, with the finish line at the bottom of the hill we'd climbed at the beginning. Pretty nice ending, and much nicer than ending on an uphill.

My heels were bothering me again. They bothered me a bit in the morning race too, but this time was bad. Bad enough I actually took my shoes off for a stretch of grass in the third mile. This is the third time it's been an issue and I've worn different pairs of socks each time, so that's not the source of the problem like I initially thought. The best I can figure is it's a combination of the surface of my orthotics (some sort of fabric that's getting worn) and tying my shoes too tightly. I don't like slipping around in my shoes, but after I put my shoes back on I loosely tied them and didn't have as much of a problem. It's about time to replace my orthotics anyway, but they're pricey and I'd rather spend the money on other things. I think I'm going to have to give in and do it anyway though- the burning pain is pretty unbearable.

I ran 3.04 miles in 43:17. That was a 14:13 pace, which is a lot slower than my morning 5k pace. I blame all the hills in this race. The faster second mile was the trail through the woods :)

1st mile: 14:14
2nd mile: 13:25
3rd mile: 15:15

12th race in 2016

Month	Event	Time
January	New Year’s Day 5k	33:01
February	Frostbite 5k	37:37
February	Mud Run	1:35:37
March	4k Walk	33:19
March	March 5k	33:49
March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	1:01:30
March	Obstacle Race	44:06
April	Glow Run	35:16
April	April 5k	41:15
April	Evening Run	34:59
May	May 5k	35:18
May	Evening Cross Country Race	43:17

24th race towards my 40 by 40 goal

	Date	Event	Distance	Event Type
1.	July 2015	4th of July 5k	5k	Pregnant
2.	August	4 Mile Fun Run	4 miles	Road Race
3.	September	All Terrain	5k	Mixed surface
4.	October	Hill Valley Half	13.1 miles	Virtual half marathon
5.	October	Corn Maze 5k	5k	Corn Maze
6.	October	Kilted Trail 5k	5k	Kilted race
7.	November	Trail Half	13.6 miles	Trail Half
8.	November	Turkey Trot	5k	Road Race
9.	December	Veteran’s 5k	5k	Mixed surface
10.	December	Army Virtual Marathon	26.23 miles	Virtual marathon
11.	January 2016	New Year’s Day 5k	5k	Road race
12.	February	Frostbite 5k	5k	Cross country race
13.	February	Mud Run	4.8 miles	Mud run
14.	March	4k Walk	4k	Walk
15.	March	March 5k	5k	Road race
16.	March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	5k	Virtual 5k Walk
17.	March	10 mile race	Not applicable	Water stop volunteer
18.	March	Obstacle Race	5k	Obstacle run
19.	April	Glow Run	5k	Glow Run, 1st of 2 races in 12 hours
20.	April	April 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 2nd of 2 races in 12 hours
21.	April	Evening Run	5k	Evening run
22.	May	10k Kayak Race	10k	Kayak race
23.	May	May 5k	5k	5k, 1st of 2 races in same day
24.	May	Evening CC Race	5k	Evening cross country, 2nd of 2 races in same day