The forecast the week before this race was looking pretty horrible. There was snow on the ground by our house, more on the way, and temperatures might be in the single digits on race morning. The fact that it would be calm for race day was like frosting on a mud sandwich. Karen started muttering about how much she had paid for the entry fee, Jim was thinking of not doing it entirely and going to St. George for the weekend, and I was just really tired from a couple of weeks of having visitors and lots of travel and a couple of Spartan races.
And yet, somehow most of the snow melted, the sun was shining, and it was 25 degrees for our 9 am start. Not so bad, after all. We had all decided to come and race, although our backup plan was to carry crampons and trekking poles in case the trails were slick and icy.
Karen soon disappeared ahead of me as I started much slower than usual. I never saw her again, but she had a great run, winning her age group and finishing in 2:58 for the 16.6 miles. Jim and I were more or less going the same pace for a while, and even ran together a bit, which might be a first in a race! He would pull ahead of me about halfway through, and I didn't have the energy to catch him again. He finished in 3:19, which was 12 minutes faster than last year, and 29 minutes faster than 2 years ago.
I had decided before the race that I needed to take it easy. I had done two speed workouts that week on the treadmill, and was just tired, mentally and physically. So I dropped a minute or two per mile slower than usual, and checked out the scenery. There was a few inches of snow on some of the trails, but it was fresh and crunchy and not slick in the least. My crampons and poles stayed in my pack. In fact I finished the race with same clothes I had started with; tights, long-sleeved shirt, and a windbreaker. I took my gloves off after a while, but the temperature didn't get much above freezing and I wasn't running hard enough to get too hot.
I finished in 3:21, which was a good prep for the big race coming up. In just two weeks I would be back here again for the 100 mile race, some of it on the same course. In the meantime I'll be resting up, stretching, and hopefully eating very healthy!
Website for the Hundred: https://www.buffalorunadventures.com/buffalo-run/
Here's the results: https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=86556
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