"4 Mile" (pretty much unanimous consensus that the course was long -- which of course does not matter but I definitely think I was running faster than 5:50s, 5:30s was probably more like it) XC race in Wheaton, NY (just south of Rochester). We gathered at the Cornell Vet School at 7:30 am and headed out to Wheaton with a full men's open team and a full vet's (50+) team. It was already warm. We arrived at the park at 10ish for the 11am start. I warmed up for 3 miles on the course and did some strides. My goal for this race was simply to get a quality tempo run in. I wanted to take it easy for the first 3 miles and then run hard for the last mile. This strategy worked well, because the course was brutal and the heat made it worse. It was like Mombosa out there! Well, not that bad, but as close as one could expect to get to it in Upstate NY in October. Aside: Ugh, what a horrible weekend at Chicago and Twin Cities!!
So, as it turned out going out really easy turned into a rather evenly paced race, and I finished well, placing ahead of a couple of guys from GVH (Genessee Valley Harriers) that had beaten me last year. So, I was 4th and Eric Davis was 5th in the open division for High Noon A.C. Overall we were 5 and 6, because of Dave O'Keefe, who is 48!! This guy is unbelievable, like Dennis. Still, GVH won easily and HN was 2nd. If it were not for some ridiculous politics going on in Ithaca, HN would probably be able for field a competitive open team... "As Ithaca Turns". After the race Eric, Adam, and I cooled down on the course for 4+ miles. I want to take this opportunity to advertise for Pete Glavin's Upstate NY XC Series. Check out his site http://www.peteglavin.com. This is such a well-organized, fun, and competitive series. Thanks Pete for putting so much personal effort into this.
Congrats to the qualifiers at St. George! And to everyone else who ran great races! Well done!
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