The Mohunk -- Sun. September 23

Somehow I didn't get out to a single training run in the week; not the best way to prepare for a 10 miler that calls itself a Challenge (and rightly so!). Anyhoo, Saturday afternoon it was off with Mark for the three hour drive to Pfalz Point (actually, to his friends' place in a nearby village -- Stone Ridge?) NY. Lovely hosts, and we were both feeling in good shape on a fantastic sunny and cool day in the hills there. 300+ people, including a batch from West Point--some organization at the start, and I was aiming to avoid the logjam Mark told me about from last year. So I went off at a brisk pace, and kept it up for the first two miles, feeling okay, but then the course went to uphill trails and steep -- I was burned out and needing to recover. It was a TOUGH course, not just distance but terrain and slopes, up and down, both demanding! Lots of good runners to try and stay with too. I was feeling very rough until easy mile 6, then picked up and was recovered by 8, but it went up hill STEEPly again, and I was just wiped. Here's how it ended up:

Time: 1:13:48
Distance: 10 miles
Speed: 8.3 mph

Comments: all in all, at 38th out of 305, I was happy enough with how it ended. It felt a lot tougher, and yet I also felt that--for parts of it at least--I had gone quite fast. I'll find it easier next year, knowing where and when the steep bits are coming. And I need to do some more single trail training: it's just MUCH tougher than road or dirt lanes. For the record, here are the laps, first half and second half:

6:43, 6:58, 9:01 (ouch!), 8:19, 8:18;
5:52 (smooth and downhill), 6:40, 8:20, 6:25, 6:05.