This race has been on my bucket list for a few years since I started focusing on longer distance running. It's generally in August, which has usually conflicted with my triathlon schedule. Since I am not racing any tris this season and I have leftover endurance from the Canal Corridor 100 I figured why not have a go at it this year. Still, this one hurt more than I thought it would - maybe still fatigued from all the long races this year. Either way it was a good course and I would like to do it again.
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| Sunny Lake - photo credit - Rob Irr |
The course is a 10K loop that you complete five times. The loop consists of mostly trail and grass with some cinder and a bit of asphalt mixed in throughout Sunny Lake Park in Aurora, Ohio. I was feeling pretty good for the warm up loop and for the second loop until it started relentlessly pouring rain. Yuck! This caused me to slow down for a while because I was sliding around too much in the mud and grass and I didn't want to fall. Coming through the aid station to start my third loop I was feeling a little soggy and defeated. I headed to the ladies room and used the hand dryer to try and take some of the moisture out of my clothes.
The third loop went okay but I turned too soon off the cinder road into the trails and ended up repeating a mile+ loop, which set me back a good 10-15 minutes. I wasn't happy about it but it's easy to take a wrong turn in a trail race so I just moved on kind of annoyed with myself. It warmed up and I started to dry off but my legs felt tired. I thought to myself maybe just finish this loop and call it a day - that would give me a solid 18. But I couldn't just quit just because I felt blah! I signed up for a 50K - not an 18 miler. I reluctantly started the 4th loop and it was a real doozy and I walked quite a bit of this one so I lost some time for sure. I was just not feeling this loop at all and was pretty much in the pain cave until I saw the aid station.
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| Post race with my finisher wooden medal |
Something about being on the fifth and last loop gave me a second wind and I was able to pick up the pace a little and then a little more. I was no longer soaking wet and I knew I would be done in about an hour if I pushed it. I had no idea what place I was in and honestly it didn't really matter. I was out there for a butt-kicking workout and I got it done. My finish time of 6:25 was a lot slower than I expected but slow is always better than quitting! Plus I did run an extra mile so maybe I would have finished in 6:10-6:15 without the extra loop. I did find out a bit later in the week when the results came that I was third female. My husband also ran this 3 weeks after his BR100 finish and finished in about 5:20 (7th male) on those tired BR legs!
Race director Stephen Godale does a nice job with the race. It's low-key and the looped course with the aid station every 10K is convenient as well as having the second aid station about half way through the loop. Thanks to Stephen and all the volunteers who made the race a good experience!
Now it's back to marathon training for the Northern Ohio Marathon, which takes place on Oct 1 followed with some more trail 50Ks to end the season.
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| Close up of the wooden finisher medal! |
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