Mud World

It’s been over a week since I ran the Pineland Farms 25k Trail Race.  I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to write about it.  I guess it’s because there’s really not much to say.  It rained for the better part of the week leading up to the race, rendering the dirt and field trails barely passable on race day.  I had hoped to run well this year to “avenge” last years personal worst, but I ended up sliding all over the place, straining my calf (again), slowing down to stretch it out and even stopping to change shoes (mid-race) on the way to setting a brand-spanking NEW Pineland personal worst!

My splits were all over the place – as low as 21:47 (5k) and as high as 27:56 (also 5k). My finishing time was 2:04:30 which was a full 9 minutes slower than my Pineland best and nearly a minute slower than last year’s debacle.  It's been 3 years now that I've run this race, and I really like it a lot.  But, it's also been 3 straight years of getting slower, and that's no fun.  IF I run this race next year, I sure would like to stop that particular trend! But that's a big IF.  Right now, this 15.6 mile slip-n-slide race has left a bad taste in my mouth.  One that I'm hoping will be rinsed out by a nice, quick Hollis Fast 5k next week.  Oh well, at least the rain stopped (eventually) and the team won some beers!