The Off Road Ramble now bears the distinction of being the only race that I have run twice. It was the first race I ran upon moving to the Santa Cruz area and hooking up with the good people at Fleet Feet in Aptos, and a year later I found myself lacing up to do it again.
I like this race a lot. It’s a trail run (5k and 10k) that goes through wooded areas, across grassy meadows, and alongside a lake, all within a decent-sized county park on the outskirts of Watsonville. The terrain is generally smooth and the hills (while frequent) are never too long or too steep. You can take a look at some photos of the course on Fleet Feet’s website.
(By the way, this run is the first in a series of trail races that Fleet Feet puts on every year called the Brooks Run Santa Cruz Race Series. The next one will be on June 15th in Nisene Marks State Park, while the third one will be September 21st with the location to be announced. You should sign up because the races are fun, festive, and small enough that you might have a chance of placing!)
I had three different goals for the 10k race, and I wanted to make sure I did at least one of them:
(By the way, this run is the first in a series of trail races that Fleet Feet puts on every year called the Brooks Run Santa Cruz Race Series. The next one will be on June 15th in Nisene Marks State Park, while the third one will be September 21st with the location to be announced. You should sign up because the races are fun, festive, and small enough that you might have a chance of placing!)
I had three different goals for the 10k race, and I wanted to make sure I did at least one of them:
- Beat my time from last year (1:05:08)
- Beat my 10k PR (1:01:30, which I set during the second race in the series last year)
- Finish in less than one hour
After the gun went off (actually we had a bagpipe send off, which is, of course, awesome), I was surprised at how quickly I was able to get loose. I was able to run the first loop without any real problems, and I was able to settle into a pretty good groove. I managed to trudge my way up the hills, make up lost time on the downhills, and find my zen spots on the flats.
On the second loop, the legs started to fight back a little bit, and I got the feeling that I would end up doing more hill walking. However, I managed to connect with Amie, my fellow race team member who was also feeling not quite her best. Somehow, our combined pessimism resulted in some form of symbiotic optimism and we managed to move along at a steady pace for the rest of the second loop.
The result – I crossed the finish line in 59:46.
The result – I crossed the finish line in 59:46.
I was obviously very happy with this result; it meant that I had accomplished all three of my goals for the day and, in looking at the data later, it meant that I had actually run my fastest official race (in terms of pace) thus far. Furthermore, I ended up placing third in my age group (granted there were only three people in my age group, but it still counts!)
All in all, not a bad day!
All in all, not a bad day!