Yesterday I ran a great little local race. The Warkworth 8 Miler (www.w8runningevents) is a really nice race in the lovely village of Warkworth ON. It's a combination of road and trails, winding through the village, and then onto the country roads surrounding the village, with stretches of trails connecting up the country roads. It's a very pretty course, and super hilly- nothing really big or steep, but it's almost a continuous roll of up and down.
The weather yesterday was pretty nasty- just a couple of degrees above freezing, heavy rain, and high wind- perfect for running around in shorts!
My plan for this race was to go out with the leaders, see what happened with them, and either try to hold on, or take the lead (which is what I did last year and ended up winning). When the gun went off I found myself right up at the front with 2 other guys, and by the time we turned into the first trail (about 3km into the race) there were just 2 of us. The trails were great- it had poured rain all night, and the trails there have a lot of clay, so they were very slick, with water filled ruts. Within about 500m of getting onto the trails both of us wiped out- the other guy flat on his face, and me flat on my back. We both got up and kept at it, and stuck together until about 6km. At that point we came up to our first serious downhill- quite steep and very slippery. He was wearing road shoes, and slipping all over the place. When he saw the hill I heard him say "oh no" so I took that at my queue to drop the hammer and left him. I was on my own until almost 10K, when a guy I had been talking to before the race caught up. Before the race he told me that since he's racing the 1/2 Marathon in Hamilton next week (with a goal of 1:19!), his plan for this race was to do the first third easy, the next third at race tempo, and the last third easy. When he caught up to me he was looking strong, and he decided to keep up the pace rather than drop the pace for the last third. We stuck together for a while, and then he started to pull away (or perhaps more to the point, I started to drop off). I knew that 3rd place was way back, and I wasn't going to catch 1st, so I kept a steady pace to finish off in 2nd, almost a minute slower than my time last year. The medals are really neat- they're hand made by a local potter- much nicer than the some of the generic trophy shop medals you often get at small races
The weather yesterday was pretty nasty- just a couple of degrees above freezing, heavy rain, and high wind- perfect for running around in shorts!
My plan for this race was to go out with the leaders, see what happened with them, and either try to hold on, or take the lead (which is what I did last year and ended up winning). When the gun went off I found myself right up at the front with 2 other guys, and by the time we turned into the first trail (about 3km into the race) there were just 2 of us. The trails were great- it had poured rain all night, and the trails there have a lot of clay, so they were very slick, with water filled ruts. Within about 500m of getting onto the trails both of us wiped out- the other guy flat on his face, and me flat on my back. We both got up and kept at it, and stuck together until about 6km. At that point we came up to our first serious downhill- quite steep and very slippery. He was wearing road shoes, and slipping all over the place. When he saw the hill I heard him say "oh no" so I took that at my queue to drop the hammer and left him. I was on my own until almost 10K, when a guy I had been talking to before the race caught up. Before the race he told me that since he's racing the 1/2 Marathon in Hamilton next week (with a goal of 1:19!), his plan for this race was to do the first third easy, the next third at race tempo, and the last third easy. When he caught up to me he was looking strong, and he decided to keep up the pace rather than drop the pace for the last third. We stuck together for a while, and then he started to pull away (or perhaps more to the point, I started to drop off). I knew that 3rd place was way back, and I wasn't going to catch 1st, so I kept a steady pace to finish off in 2nd, almost a minute slower than my time last year. The medals are really neat- they're hand made by a local potter- much nicer than the some of the generic trophy shop medals you often get at small races
This event also has a 5K, which is mostly on the roads through the village, with a bit on a gravel path and some grass as you come to the end of the course. My 13 y/o daughter ran that race, and though her time was well off her 5K PB she ended up being 3rd in the under 20 women's age group, so I was very proud of her.
This is a really nice little race. Anyone who isn't too far from Warkworth (which is about 1/2 hour north of Cobourg as a point of reference, or 45 mins south of Peterborough) should check it out. It's a very pretty course, super hilly, and really nice people- has a very friendly, small town feel.