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2010 Steep Hill Chase 5k race

Saturday Diana and I raced the Steep Hill Chase 5k trail run here in town.  Fun event.  The course was essentially flat, with exception to the "steep hill", which was only maybe 20 feet up, but steep and slippery with mud.  You really had to claw your way up, using hands and knees, etc.  The other fun bit of the course was an option about halfway through where you could either take a "short cut" through the water, or go around.  In the spirit of things, I went through the water, which turned out to be waist deep, and a bit of a slog.  It was maybe 30-40 feet across.  The water wasn't too cold.  Really, the worst aspect of this was after - your shoes are soaked, as are shorts, part of my shirt, etc.  The soaked shoes really weigh you down, and I think, if ultimate time was my goal, going around would have been a better choice, but the water cross was fun.  

As it turned out, I had quite a good race, with a time of 23 minutes 41 seconds, for a pace of 7:38.  This is far and away the fastest I've run.  I was quite happy, as I figured 25 minutes would be the absolutely fastest I'd do it.  Clearly, having a shorter, flat course made a huge difference.  Diana did great too, and beat her expected time, coming in at 32 minutes and change.

There was a bit of a scare at the end of the race, as a woman crossed the finish line and collapsed, losing conciousness for a few seconds, and shaking a bit, kind of looking a bit seizure like.  The sharking stopped shortly, one of the race folks called 911, I gave her my vest and jacket to help keep her warm, and in the end she was ok.  She opted not to ride with the paramedics back to the hospital, and we saw her walking around at the award's ceremony.  Hopefully it was just dehydration and exertion, etc.  Glad she seems to be ok.

Posted June 14, 2010