As mentioned in the previous post, we had a nice turnout at
today’s MHRRC Winter Run at Baird Park. What a great day! After this seemingly
endless winter, the morning dawned … really nice! It had to be near 40 degrees
for the 10 a.m. start. For a predawn, early morning runner like me, the warm
temperatures and DAYLIGHT were a shock to my system and I clearly overdressed.
Anyway …
The course was a double out-and-back on the park road in LaGrange. I have driven that road many times, but I have never run it. We now have a new appreciation for the ROLLING HILLS on this road. In particular, the hill on the return direction on the second loop was very challenging! It’s very interesting how the SAME HILL gets much more difficult the second time around. And, this is not just my middle-aged, turtle-paced perspective. Even the fast young runners – Omar, Doug, Deedy, Eddie and Kell – confirmed the hidden challenges of this course.
The course was a double out-and-back on the park road in LaGrange. I have driven that road many times, but I have never run it. We now have a new appreciation for the ROLLING HILLS on this road. In particular, the hill on the return direction on the second loop was very challenging! It’s very interesting how the SAME HILL gets much more difficult the second time around. And, this is not just my middle-aged, turtle-paced perspective. Even the fast young runners – Omar, Doug, Deedy, Eddie and Kell – confirmed the hidden challenges of this course.
Sophomore Omar Perez won this race last year. He did not
defend his title today – some unnamed runner from Garden State Track Club who
forgot to wear his timing loop took first place in 27:18. However, Omar lowered
his winning time by 1:17 from last year for a strong, second-place finish of 27:26
(5:29 pace); last year’s winning pace was 5:45, so Omar continues his
impressive ascent in the world of distance running. Senior Doug Ainscow was
third overall in 28:23 (5:41 pace). Senior Pat Deedy was fourth in 28:53
(5:47). Freshman Eddie White was sixth in 30:19 (6:04). Graduate Kelley Gould
was 11th overall and first woman across the line in 36:11 (7:14 pace). The old
coach in the Islanders hat was 20th in 38:20 (7:40 pace). There were 89
finishers on the day.
Thanks to Kathy Gould and Billy Posch for their support and
for taking photos. The folks at the MHRRC are like a family to me, and it was
great to have my Marist family support their efforts.
Almost every week while at Arlington we would do a 3 mile "time trial" (really a tempo run) from the lower parking lot (the one below the lot the where you took the picture you posted) out to Freedom Road and back. Those runs made me dread that hill you mentioned. Coming at about 2.5 miles, it was absolutely murder on your legs. Even worse was doing that hill in a workout. Some times we would do 10x that hill. It was short enough and (mostly) at a shallow enough incline that you could sprint the entire thing - which would inevitably just destroy you by the end of the workout. One of my least favorite hills of all time.
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