As a quick follow-up to last week's post about getting beaten in a race by my son ... it happened again in Week 4 of the New Paltz XC Series, at Minnewaska. It wasn't even close. Joey beat me by about 2 minutes in the 4-mile (or so, geez, it felt like 40 miles!) Blueberry Run. It's very rare that I am surprised by anything in this sport at this point ... but this course blew me away, in so many ways. You think Minnewaska, you think nice carriage trails, right? Maybe some tough hill climbs, but no technical footing. Yeah. Well. Go run the Blueberry course. That's all I gotta say. Single-track, grass trail with footing that is sure to test anyone's ankles. Lung-busting hills, making you want to beg for mercy. Back where I was in the middle of the pack, I "charged" up the toughest hill on the course with all my might and passed several people. They were walking. I wasn't going much faster. It was that hard.
Did I run this race all out? Sort of, but not really. I had done a hard 6-miler in the morning, and I am preparing (I guess?) for the Kelley 11.6-miler on Saturday. So I did not want to kill myself out there. I went easy on the downhills (I stink at them anyway) and hard on the uphills ("A" for effort, "C-" for speed). But was this an easy run? Yeah, right! Joey beat me, fair and square. It's over. He wins. He is faster. As astute commenter Steve said of my previous post, now he's gotta start chasing the Old Man's PRs. God willing, I will be there every step of the way, holding a watch in one hand and a coffee in the other, hoping he can do it.
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