Sore legs

So, I'm sitting here, over 24 hours after I ran the 15th Wellsville, NY Ridgewalk 14 mile trail race. And my legs are still sore. And no wonder. What a killer run that course is. I don't yet know the winning time from this year, but in the previous five years the winning times ranged from 1:59 to 2:13. For a 14 mile race! For a 14 mile race, a 2 hour winning time is an 8:34/mile pace. I think they typically get runners from all over Western and Central New York (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse), Northern Pennsylvania and even a few Canadians. And with both Alfred University and SUNY Alfred just down the road, I think they might even get a couple of stud college runners. I've typed all that up just to try to prove that this run is one tough cookie. And if I haven't yet been able to convince you, here is the elevation map. You can go to their site to get a higher quality image.


In any event, I had a very, very good run. This was the third time in the past four years that I've been able to participate. Race day is near my birthday, so this race is my birthday present to myself. I know that sounds pretty sick but what can I say? The first year I ran it in 3:37. The following year was 3:41. Last year I missed due to an injury. This year was an (unofficial at this point) 3:07. Yep. 3:07. A 30 minute PR. I simply can't believe it. All I did was go out and give it all I had in me, just like the other years. Oh, yea, the only other little thing that I did was to train my ass off all summer with the 1st Marathon group.

What a great way to cap off an awesome summer and a great fall race season: 2 PR's in 2 weeks on 2 challenging trail courses. I just can't express how great that makes me feel. Those are once-in-a-lifetime accomplishments. I can't imagine that I'll see improvements like this ever again in my life.

I went out today to run and had a very difficult day. I probably should have taken the day off but the weather was so good, I just couldn't resist. I walked probably a third of the 6.2 mile loop. I didn't feel any worse when I got back but I didn't feel any better, either. But I'll probably take tomorrow off and see how I feel. I may dial it back for a couple of weeks and then see what the winter deals me. We'll just have to see where things end up.

I'll meet you further on up the road.