Late Update of South Huron Run

I have been so busy lately with the family, work and purchasing a new vehicle. The 1999 Ford windstar that we had, had a lot of parts replaced under warranty. Those same parts (transmission, tie rod ends, sway bars, air conditioning, etc.) are starting to break again. It's time to get a new vehicle, a Honda. We pick up a new CRV on Monday. I've noticed that there are some that check the blog out on a regular basis, I am sorry that I have not updated it.

Last Sunday was the South Huron 8km race. I beat last years time by a minute and 26 seconds and almost 10 minutes from 2 years ago. There were 138 people in the race, and it was not that crowded. It is part of the runner's pike series. The south huron trail is a stone chip trail that runs along the ausable river from Exeter to the Morrison. Most of the race is in the shade, but there are a lot of small hills and sharp truns that can slow you down.

The first split was still faster than what I wanted at 3:37. I was hoping to make the first km one of my slowest. One of these days I will really do that. I started to pass some younger ones that started out too hard. Then got into a groove with 3 others just within reach. At about the 3rd kilometer, I caught up and passed one. I never saw him again. I stuck with the other 2 that were very close together. I thought we were going at a good pace, but when I clocked the 4th km at 4:20, I was not impressed. I picked up the pace a bit and passed one of the 2. The 3rd guy also looked at his watch and started to pick up the pace. Eventually between the 4th and 5th kilometer, I passed him. I did not stay there for long. He passed me again very soon after and I couldn't keep up within some of the smaller hills. I can really feel the effects of any hills. That was the positioning from then on in to the finish line. I heard someone behind me around the dreaded hill in the last k, but I kept in front. Once up the hill there is about a 300m flat stretch to the finish line. About half way there, I felt like I was going to puke. It sounds freaky, but at this point in the race, this is how I want to feel. I never second guess my effort when I feel this way. I backed of just a touch to keep the puking under control, then slowly accelerated to the finish line.

Here are the splits:

This years:
3:37.9, 4:01.6, 3:59.7, 4:20.6, 4:04.0, 4:18.1, 4:07.1, 4:14
3:48, 4:02, 4:24, 4:22, 4:22, 4:31, 4:15, 4:22

I was much more consistent last year. I was also running mostly by myself then too.

I am still waiting for the orthotics to come in. Other than the race, I have not been doing any speed or hill work outs. Just base running, stretching and some strengthening. Last week, I still managed to put in 40km in 4 sessions. This week I hope to do 5 sessions again. The shins have been feeling really good, but I am going to wait until the orthotics are in and until I have run with them for a couple weeks, before I increase my mileage.