Deer Run Run 07

Early winter so far has been a series of freezing rain, ice, and a little snow thrown in. This mix makes for interesting footing on the trails. Throw into this mix a little 8k race at Comlara called the Deer Run, and you have a fun Saturday morning.

I ran this one for the first time in 2002, skipped '03 and '04, making this my third consecutive year running. The last two years both had quite a bit of snowpack on the course, '05 was snowy and windy, and last year we had had a 7-8" snowfall the week before the race.

This installment was no different. Conditions were about 3" of snowpack, ice in the tamped down spots and wind in the open areas. Additionally, the powers that be throw in 6 or 7 European style cross country barricades to jump/scramble/hurdle over at intermittent points along the course. The trail itself is not too tough, a few slight hills and some bridge crossings.

It's always a given I'm not in contention for awards at these things, it's just a nice run and a way to gauge relative fitness. I am in better shape this year than the last two, although lack of speedwork hurts finishing times in the shorter races.

That said, I was happy with a time of 42:27 or 8:34 miles, good for 41st out of 115. This for me is respectable, considering especially, that I didn't race all out, but ran more of a tempo type effort on what was in spots relatively poor footing.

It looks even better when compared with 51:10 last year and 51:25 in '05.

Followed up with a nice 6 miler yesterday, ran into Tapp and Kim Willi in the lake woods and crunched around the snow a bit.

More ice is called for this week, so the long run this coming Saturday at McNaughton could turn adventurous.