A few days ago, this past Saturday, I traveled down to Wilmington, DE to run the Smith McMillian Memorial 5K. As I mentioned in my last entry, this is one of my favorite courses I've run mainly because it is FAST. Sure it is 3 loops but I'll take that for the speed.
Well.....
I arrived at the race site like clockwork to find out the organizers were not ready for day of registration (an hour before) with 3 runners (myself included) waiting to sign up. So we went to find the restrooms. Kind of humorous to have a few people going....'oh well, I can go to the bathroom'. After a brief stop, I returned to pay my cash. At this point, I found out two things. No more shirts and the biggie.....different course!!!! Oh noes! Not only was it different but it was HILLY!!!!! I went down to DE to get away from hills since I had enough on my slate for this upcoming weekend. But I took it in stride. Normally, on my warm-up, I stay away from the course. However, knowing there was some serious climb, I went out to the 1 mile mark as this was the major climb. I wanted to know the grade so I can plan my race strategy.
I found this was a smart move. Once the race got underway, I took an immediate lead. Knowing what was ahead allowed me to pace myself wisely. I ran a fairly even race crossing the line in 16:53.
To illustrate the difference in the courses, I ran nearly a minute faster on the old course. After, I cross the finish, one of the organizers asked me what I thought and I commented how I liked the other course. She yelled to the other director 'see?! he likes the old course too.' I found it humorous.
Anyways, despite being on a slower course than I would have liked, the race was a good payoff. Not to mention that it got me back on the right track for this weekend as a confidence boost.
On Friday, I will be venture out 4 hours away for a 30K trail race. Looking very forward to it, especially staying at Blue Knob All Seasons Resort. Granted the long drive home will be rough but I'll deal with that later.
Its trail time!!!!
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