Colorama 10K – Lapham Peak State Park

my recent effort at racing on the trails of the Kettle Moraine State Forest left me with a less than satisfied feeling. what better way to redeem myself than at an event held out in the woods only two weeks later.

the race didn’t start until 10AM and i approached my morning rather casually. i even downed a cup of coffee, which i never do before running. i arrived about forty minutes before the start and collected my race number, long sleeve shirt and the shirts for my daughters who were running the Smokey Bear Fun Run after the 5K/10K events were finished.

after a 14 minute warm up run on the trails, i made my way to the starting line and weaved my way to a point where there were some folks ahead of me and more behind me. the national anthem was sung, which in my opinion is the right way to precede a race, and we were sent on our way.

i eased my way through the first few minutes of the course as it winds its way up a long uphill before leveling off a short time later. i focused on getting into the “flow” of the trail and as best i could i would let my legs go down the hills and let the momentum carry me up part of the next uphill.

the wooded section of the course gave way to more of an open area which was grassy and less hilly. i made my way past other competitors who had gone out perhaps a bit too quick. admittedly, it was good to feel that i was “hunting” versus having the target on my back.

before long we turned back into the woods and the rapid succession of up and down hills. admittedly, i struggled up the hills as i noticed that more often than not the runners ahead of me gained space on the up hill while i narrowed the gap on the flats and to a degree on the down hills.

in the last mile, i found myself in a back and forth battle with two other runners. one was just ahead of me while the other was just behind me. we ended up finishing within a span of seven seconds with me in the middle of the other two. i made sure to shake hands with both and we all agreed that we had a great day for running on the trails.

chip time – 45:10
overall – 30th/208
M35-39 – 7th/20

after a ten minute cool down run, i was able to find my wife and children who had arrived to do the Smokey Bear Fun Run. i fetched their shirts from my car and was able to get a picture with all four of them before the announcement was made for the kids to greet Smokey the Bear.

all four had a good time with the fun run although our youngest opted to have mom carry her much of the way. nearing the finish, she got down and ran across the finish line on her own. we ate some cake as a treat after the run then headed home for lunch and nap time. (i got to cut the grass.)

01. October 2011 by Jerry Cameron
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