Camp Jewell trail run

Who: Camp Jewell YMCA
What: 5k trail run, part of their strong kids campaign
When: Saturday,  June 15
Where: Camp Jewell Colebrook CT
Why: Because wifey wanted a 5k

I got to sit this one out because I don't want my legs to be sore for my big swim tomorrow. Wifey lined up for the race while the little guy and I played around in a wiffleball stadium known as the thunderdome.
They were doing music and announcements from the top of a little tower by the aforementioned thunderdome. When I heard them start playing "the eye of the tiger" I grabbed the little guy and walked over to the finish line. The official clock read 20:38 at that point. Wow, tough course. Wifey came in 4th woman and 18th overall finisher. She got a medal for winning her age group. Then we got to go down the giant slide.

Running with real runners

This was probably the smallest event I've competed in on dry land. There was a real cross-country start and most of the course was on trails. Wifey said she could see the runners pass by nine different times. The JO's are held on the same site later in the day so there were a lot of kids and teenagers in groups out walking the course. Many of them looked sleepy and some were even wrapped in blankets as the went along. They made very friendly spectators. too.
Most of the trails are wide enough for several people to run abreast. There were only a few spots where we had to pass single file. With only forty-five runners this was not a problem. At least not for me. There was only one hill, around halfway through the course. Steep and long. I passed several people on the way up only to have them fly past me when I had to slow down at the top. I have got to learn how to run hills without killing my pace.
I felt pretty good about my time of 24:09 just 27 seconds off the PR I set running for the hills on an easier course (on the road) a few weeks earlier. It was good enough to get me the overall finishing place of 38 out of 45.
A great event and a very fun course. It was fun to run with (behind) some real runners.

Age Before Beauty 5k

Who: Greystone Racing and USA track & field
What: The annual Age Before Beauty 5k Cross-Country
When: Sunday, November 11th
Where: The White Memorial Foundation & Conservation Center, Litchfield CT
Why: Because the water is cold

Bearcat

The Bearcat 5k is a tough course on the cross-country trails at Hotchkiss school. The course is three loops of roughly one mile each. Spectators can see the runners pass by at the one mile mark the two mile mark and again at the finish. The third loop is almost exactly the same as the first running in the opposite direction. I remember from last year that mile two is the problem mile. Mile two slopes gently down for more than three quarters of a mile only to make up all that altitude in a few hundred yards. Watching the runners come in to the 2 mile mark they probably look like they are hurting.
Anyway we started spread along a line in a field. I settled into my pace and went the whole race in sight of the same runners. I admit a few of them pulled ahead in the third mile, but not completely out of sight.
There was a guy standing at the 1 mile mark calling out times. Anyway that's what he claimed. I think he was a little before the mile mark because he called out 7 minutes right as I passed him by. For me a 7 minute mile is fast.
I think I fell off pace a little bit in the third mile but I finished in 25:15. Just about a minute and a half slower than my race the week before.

Bearcat 5k

Flush from the previous week's 5k wifey and I signed up for another local race.

Who: HYSB and the Hotchkiss School
What: Bearcat 5k Cross Country Challenge
When: October 7, 2012
Where: Hotchkiss School Campus
Why: Well, I accepted the challenge