The month of October ended with 138 miles. I have been able to get in a 2 hour run each of the past three weekends, with the longest now up to 11 miles. Still a bit of a struggle, but a lot better than the last few months.
What I was most excited about last month was the Medoc Trail Races. There are two races as part of this event, a marathon and a 10 miler. Back at the end of last year, when I was planning out my schedule, I had targeted the Medoc marathon as a major goal. But, with all that has gone on this year, that got scratched. In fact, my entire schedule for the year was cancelled. No running events at all scheduled after the first week of May. Just a slow build back towards normal after 8 weeks of not running.
Medoc always sells out early, but this year, there were some last minute chances to register. I had just worked up to my first 10 mile run in months, so, I signed up for the Medoc 10 miler. This was the first event I have been able to run since the first week of May. I did not feel well prepared for a 10 mile trail race. My first 10 mile run in months had been on the ATT. A very flat run, not at all like the landscape at Medoc.
I though that if I kept it slow, I would be OK. I fully expected the 10 miles to take about 2 and a half hours.
So, I started slow. In fact, very slow. Around a 12 minute mile pace at the start, which was on the road. I thought I would not be able to keep that pace once the trail started. Too many roots and rocks to look out for. I also knew I would be walking a lot of the hills. On the few places where I didn't have to watch out for rocks and roots, I was able to get into a good pace, and it felt pretty good.
I was surprised to hit the 5 mile mark at one hour. Much better than expected, close to my pace lately for running on a flat smooth road. I wasn't really keeping a close look at my time up to this point, but I started to think that I might be able to finish at closer to 2:15 than my expected time of 2:30.
So, I did start to pay attention to my overall time at each of the remaining mile markers. At 1:30 into my run I was up to 7.5 miles. Everything still felt good. I knew there was still the stair section to go, but I started to think more about a 2:10 finish being possible.
After the stair section, I lost track of time. I was starting to get tired enough that I needed to really concentrate on foot placement. I really did not want to fall. Things were going too good for that to happen. Before I knew it, I was coming through the camp ground area. I looked at the time and saw that I was still under 2 hours. Then, I was coming off the trail into the grassy area and could see the finish line. Still under 2 hours.
So, I sprinted. Or at least what counted as a sprint for me. My garmin shows my final quarter mile at just under a 9 minute mile pace. And, I passed under the barrier with the clock time showing 1:58.
So, next year I really need to do the full marathon at Medoc. One of the best events around. Great volunteers, great atmosphere, and great swag.
Looking ahead, if the legs keep feeling good, I hope to run the Pinehurst Turkey Trot HM this month. Then the Reindeer Fun Run 12K next month. After that it will be time to plan for next year.
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