07/16/2012 - New Paltz Summer Cross Country Series "Lou's Run"

Race Date: Monday July 16th, 2012
Race Name: New Paltz Summer Cross Country Series
                     Mohonk Preserve "Lou's Run"

Race Price: $20 for Series (5 Races)
Race Description: 4 plus miles on single track and carriage paths, fast finish
Race Location: Spring Farm Trailhead, Mountain Rest Road, New Paltz, NY
Race Distance: 4.4 miles
Distance Traveled: 23.3 miles
Race Time: 7:30pm
Weather: Hot & Humid

Swag: None
Food & Drink: Water, Watermelon & Cookies
Number of Participants: 167

Results
Time: 34:06
Pace: 7:45
Place: 31 of 167
Men: 28 of 95
Men (Age 30-39): 9 of 15

Personal Race Info
Pre-Run: 2 Generic Tums
               Salt Stick Pill
               Accel Gel Raspberry Cream
               Water (@20oz)

During-Run: Water (Small sip plus poured some on me)

This was the second race in the New Paltz Summer XC Series. I have never been to this trail section before so it was a first for me. Luckily I planned better this week and didn't get lost. Upon arriving around 5:40 I parked in the Visitor lot only to realize there was parking a lot closer to the start of the race so went back and moved the car. It's nice to get to these races early cause I get the pick of the best parking spots. I walked around and took some pictures.


Took my pre-run stuff about 20 minutes before the race actually started. Overall I felt pretty good for this being my 3rd race in 3 days. My right calf muscle was a little stiff but nothing that was really affecting me. I started out towards the front of the pack of runners. I like to do this, especially on runs that push you into a shoot, since you can get stuck behind slow people. This happened to me last week and I didn't want it to happen again this week.

The race started out with a pretty nice downhill which was then proceeded by a long climb back up the mountain. You can see from the Elevation graph above that it was not a flat run. I do really well on uphills and passed at least 3 people during that section. I have a hard time on downhills as I just can't seem to run as fast as others on them. I got passed by more than a few people on the last downhill section. Right at the end of the race was a brief uphill where someone went to pass me and I thought "Hell no!". I really pushed myself to sprint up the hill and to the finish. You can see my heart rate race up as I did. I felt really good during the entire race.

Final Comments
Overall this was a nice trail race with friendly people