June 14, 2008 Durham Regional Forest in Uxbridge, ON
This is the 3rd year in the row that I’m running this race and there’s a good reason for it – it’s an awesome venue and course. I was also a volunteer for this race so I when I arrived at 7:30AM it was pouring rain. I was pretty sure that we would be running in the rain but by 8:30AM everything was clear and even the sun was out. That’s the power of this race series!
For the 3rd year in a row the course changed again. If you read the course description you might think that you were doing an obstacle course: http://www.5peaks.com/maps/Map_Durham2008.pdf with a “Wall of Pain” and a “Sandbox”. This new course was AMAZING. It was very challenging with lots of climbs and twists but so varied that you never had time to get bored. The race organizers and directors did an amazing job. They even had a live band at the venue.
I had a good run despite very little sleep I got the night before. I got my jolt from two cups of Rocking Horse coffee and it must’ve worked because I felt my legs running faster than I could think that morning. My fellow RF teammates at all the aid stations kept me going as well with their words of encouragement. The day started as overcast but it got hot, sunny, and humid really quickly. Staying hydrated was important. I power-walked the steeper hills and took advantage of the downhills and took them as fast as possible. Unfortunately/fortunately there were A LOT of hills and log jumping. The many twists and turns also added an element of fun. I felt like a little kid again flying through the forest. I welcomed every KM maker I saw and was really happy to finally see the finish line.
Time: 1:09:08
Pace: 5:46 min/km
Category: 3/14 but got bumped up to 2nd in my Age Group because the first place runner won the overall. Yeah!
Nice work Esther – all those runs that Andy has you on are paying off! See you on the roads!