Piney Woods Trail Fest 50K
As a relatively new transplant to the Midwest (4 or 5 years now), I’m still not used to true winter, so we’ve taken to signing up for races in the early spring to keep us moving through the worst of winter.
In years prior, we’d sign up for the Illinois Marathon in Champaign in April. This year, we were planning to travel and see family in Texas around the beginning of February, a cheaper/easier time to travel for holidays, and worked into our schedules, so we found a race.
It was listed as a trail race, Piney Woods Trail, but due to a rainy season, they had to reroute most of the course onto dirt roads.
We arrived and had a relaxing day of eating and catching up with family, and the next morning woke up early to eat and hit the road for an hour drive around Houston.
Weather was ideal, overcast and cool, relatively low humidity, temps in the low 60’s. The course was about a 10 mile route, with 10 mile, 20 mile, and 50K runners doing 1/2/3 loops. This was supposed to be just a training run for me, so I wanted to not overdo it. I started the first loop behind a couple, nice couple, and they were running around a 10 min/mile pace and having a great conversation, so I kept with them until around mile 8 when they stopped to refill at an aid station. By now I was feeling strong and very well prepared. I continued the first loop with that 10 minute pace, and after crossing the start/finish line started to pick up the pace. My body was comfortable dropping down closer to a 9 minute pace, so I continued.
I was wearing my pack, so I had more or less all that I needed, I’d swing by an aid station for a snack or occasional refill, but really nothing much needed, and the weather continued to remain cool and ideal.
I finished the second lap still feeling very good, so onto the 3rrd and final loop. I knew my pace was good, and I had my suspicions that I’d be close to the 5 hour mark, but at the very end I began to fade ever so slightly. I rounded a corner and the wifey & brother were there cheering me & telling me if I hustled the last ¼ mile, I could dip under 5, so I dug down and pushed.
My previous PR for a flat 50k was on a training run at around 5:30, so me finishing this race in 4:59 was absolutely awesome, I acknowledge that this was some of the most ideal conditions for me to run, soft dirt road and overcast skies, but my continued training through the winter was definitely key in nailing this race.
I am super excited with my time, and even though the field was small it felt good to get an award for age group (I got second in age group out of 2 entrants, so, win?) Piney Woods Results
In years prior, we’d sign up for the Illinois Marathon in Champaign in April. This year, we were planning to travel and see family in Texas around the beginning of February, a cheaper/easier time to travel for holidays, and worked into our schedules, so we found a race.
It was listed as a trail race, Piney Woods Trail, but due to a rainy season, they had to reroute most of the course onto dirt roads.
We arrived and had a relaxing day of eating and catching up with family, and the next morning woke up early to eat and hit the road for an hour drive around Houston.
Weather was ideal, overcast and cool, relatively low humidity, temps in the low 60’s. The course was about a 10 mile route, with 10 mile, 20 mile, and 50K runners doing 1/2/3 loops. This was supposed to be just a training run for me, so I wanted to not overdo it. I started the first loop behind a couple, nice couple, and they were running around a 10 min/mile pace and having a great conversation, so I kept with them until around mile 8 when they stopped to refill at an aid station. By now I was feeling strong and very well prepared. I continued the first loop with that 10 minute pace, and after crossing the start/finish line started to pick up the pace. My body was comfortable dropping down closer to a 9 minute pace, so I continued.
I was wearing my pack, so I had more or less all that I needed, I’d swing by an aid station for a snack or occasional refill, but really nothing much needed, and the weather continued to remain cool and ideal.
I finished the second lap still feeling very good, so onto the 3rrd and final loop. I knew my pace was good, and I had my suspicions that I’d be close to the 5 hour mark, but at the very end I began to fade ever so slightly. I rounded a corner and the wifey & brother were there cheering me & telling me if I hustled the last ¼ mile, I could dip under 5, so I dug down and pushed.
My previous PR for a flat 50k was on a training run at around 5:30, so me finishing this race in 4:59 was absolutely awesome, I acknowledge that this was some of the most ideal conditions for me to run, soft dirt road and overcast skies, but my continued training through the winter was definitely key in nailing this race.
I am super excited with my time, and even though the field was small it felt good to get an award for age group (I got second in age group out of 2 entrants, so, win?) Piney Woods Results
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