Holmdel Park
This entry was posted on 11/7/2009 11:25 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
Last XC race of the season on a perfect day. This is the weather I think of when I think of cross-country. Frost on the ground before the race, the sight of your breath on the starting line, clear blue skies and sun shining down. Even though they have cleaned this course up to the point that it's barely even cross-country anymore, it's still tough because of the hills. Because it is the state championship course I know that they had to make it able to stand up to tons of kids running on it multiple times throughout the year and that's why it's all well maintained crushed stone and dirt trails, but coming out of the bowl is still a killer. I passed one guy just after the bowl and another in the back woods, I was just flying down hill and I had a very strong finish after maybe going out a bit too hard. 18:35 for 5k is 10 seconds better than my previous best on this course, so it was a nice confidence builder, even though I was deeper in oxygen debt at the end than I have been in a very long time. It felt good to push to the limit!
