Today I ran the DH Jones 10-mile road race here in
Amherst. This is a New England Grand-Prix event and draws the top talent from
all over the region, so it's a much bigger race (with a significantly faster field) than we normally get in western MA. I usually place somewhere around the top 20–30% of the races I
do, but in this one I barely slipped in below 50%. Anyway, this was my second time doing
it, and I knew the course well, both from running it last year and from doing
some hill repeats on it the past few weeks (it's only a couple miles up the
road from me).
I went into this a few pounds heavier (183 lbs.)
and slightly less trained than last year, and… yup. Predictably, I ran about 30
seconds slower overall. Admittedly, the weather was also slightly worse this
year. There was wet snow falling from about mile 2 to mile 7; my tech t-shirt
was soaked by mile 4 and I got a bit cold as a result (however, since I tend to
run warm, I have to regard that as a plus, or at least a wash). Also, my
otherwise awesome lightweight DS-Racers let water and mud in through the little
holes in the soles. Still, none of that was debilitating or even really very
detrimental. This is New England, after all. Basically, I can't say that the
conditions were an impediment. The reality is: I was a bit heavier, a bit older,
and a bit slower this year. Good incentive to cut back on the IPA and ramp up
the training...
There's a pretty great new race report of this course over at Rock n Runner's blog.
that's me in green, dressed for summer
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