Last night was the third race in the Snow Cheap Winter Trail series at Cobb’s Hill. As weird as this weather has been I at least half expected snow to finally be a factor in the race this time, considering we got a healthy dose over the weekend (see: Freezeroo #3). Rochester’s weather system had a different idea. It decided it would pour Tuesday and warm up to mid 40′s then as almost all the snow had gone, the wind kicked in and froze the melting turning mostly everything to ice. So needless to say, the course was  a wee bit icy.

I went into this race far less confident than I came out of my last 2 races. I was aching pretty badly from the previous nights workout which put me on a horrible indoor track at RIT. I went out in the morning and put 4 miles in to make this my double run for the week, so I could focus on the race and less on the miles. I also realized I was a complete slacker and didn’t do my AIS after RIT/ morning workout/ or prerace (or post race). When we arrived it was windy and cold, I set out for a mile warmup but turned in an extra half to make sure my body was near temp and ready to go.

Once again I put my self up behind the lead pack (presumably) and resigned to stick with them for the first .5 mile and let the race spread out. I found this helps especially when running into the single track trails that inevitably lead to backup. I had no clue how the first stretch was planned, but found out we were yet once again only doing 1 loop. With that in mind, I presumed it would be short like last time and would have to be a little faster.

MILE 1 8:28

Went out with the lead pack…and so did every one else. After a little pushing and rudeness on the course it settled down. We were basically running our XC course from GVH so I was pretty comfortable. About .5 mile in, the guy who always finishes right before me in every race so far (including the Freezeroo’s!) passed me and I decided to try and stay on his heels. I had to change that philosophy as I got stuck behind a walk up the hill guy shortly after this (and two runners bumped their way past me) Sliding down the hill we ran behind the god awful tennis courts on the most uneven terrain and then began the switchback to the top of Cobbs hill.

MILE 2 9:09

At this point there hadn’t been too much ice and I decided to kick it into gear, but this is also where I encountered my little nemesis, hereto known as “LM” (that is as nice as I’m getting considering what else I wanted to yell at him. LM was struggling a bit once we hit the top and I turned on cruise and passed him, but this little sparky has some competitiveness in him as he quickly jumped in front of me. I resigned knowing we were coming up to a single track section, and fell in behind him. As he was now laboring his breaths, I offered some words of encouragement and then split the trail over his shoulder to help light the path for both of us to see better. At this point we had separated from the people behind us, and the group ahead. I figured more light was better. Once again he started laboring, so I decided it was time to move on. THAT’s when the little nat got irritating. Every time I went to pass him, he jumped in front of me making me veer into an ice path (which as this point was getting more noticeable) and respectively slowing me down. This little #@$@ was blocking me. He was acting like this was a XC race not a trail race with DANGEROUS ice. After watching the kid struggle once again and the ice get thicker, and a couple people fall, I decided it was time to take over. I sped up a little and moved to the outside of the path where there was little ice and some snow. As we started to go downhill, the ice got thicker and more prevalent.

MILE .6 5:22 (8:59p)

3/4 of this last stretch was ice,…lots of it. and most was down hill except for one good uphill with a nice sheet of ice. During this time i realized the Mizuno Ascends , ascended great in snow…but were not made for ice. I started to feel how much extra work I was doing just to keep my feet moving forward. “LM” passed me again, but I was going to take a chance and let myself get hurt just to teach the brat a lesson. I had noticed that for most of the last .5 mile we were a small group running pretty much alone, after LM passed me I just put it into cruise into the downhill…right into a crazy ice patch that I couldn’t slow myself down in time for. Screaming expletives at the top of my lungs as I prayed to god I wouldn’t slip or trip, I finally made it out and onto the singletrack. There is not passing here so I was stuck behind a guy I knew I could pass, but I heard the group approaching behind. AS we broke from the trees and into the opening towards the finish, I could hear someone behind me pick it up, I turned on what little I had left out sprinting him and almost passing LM in the process. LM for the future…learn some trail etiquette!

FINISH 2.6mi 23:13 (officially)

20/232 overall — highest placement overall

15/171 No snowshoe division — dropped by 1 placement

9/36 Age group — dropped by 3 placements

I was quite happy with reaching my goal of hitting the top 20, but I realized I dropped spots in my division and age group. 9 of the top 15 were 30-39! I tried running a cool-down but my legs just refused, so ate some chili then went home to soak up in a hot bath.

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