South Mountain Classic Race

I didn't know I was running the South Mountain Classic 20K race on March 24th until the Thursday before the Saturday race. My weekend plans included a long run in preparation of my Whiskey Row marathon race in May.  If I could get a run in up to Dobbins point before the race and then run the race, I would meet my long run goal, get hills in and have more fun doing it too.   And because I had never run a 20K distance before, it was an automatic PR regardless of how well I did at the race

South Mountain Classic is on the rolling San Juan road and the joke is the road is uphill both directions. Trust me, it's no joke.   My good friend Michael was out there pacing a fellow runner and I tried to run with him at the beginning but he was too fast and he was trying to catch up with the person he was supposed to pace (they were separated at the beginning and she shot out at the start). Having just finished Part I of my run,  I was cautious of burning myself out during the race and ran conservatively. About mile 4 I caught up to Michael and ran with them making sure I took the tangents.

It was pretty warm for a mid-March day. On the hills on the way back I was very tired and walked through the water stops. I heard there was supposed to be 4 water stops but Watermill, the water sponsor, decided to put out three and I could have really used the extra strop.

I finished strong but tired with a 1:45:05 and a 3rd place age group finish.

Happy Running!