Nooseneck 18k - Post-Christmas Fun

I managed to convince my cousin's husband, who's a trail runner by nature, to come down to the Nooseneck 18k on Friday. He was recovering from a recent 50-miler, and initially thought the race was on Saturday, but he still gave it a go... as a recovery run. For those that don't know the course, here's a Map of it that someone created. It starts and finishes across the street from the Tavern on the Hill. For a suggested donation of $10, it's a really fun race for those that consider 11.2 miles to be fun. Thanks to Mike Tammaro and the Narragansett Running Association for putting on yet another fun runner-centric race. Looking forward to nest year's 10th anniversary.

The first mile is pretty much downhill all the way. I went out in 5:45, which was probably a bit too fast, but it was mostly gravity doing the work. By the time I settled into a 6:10 pace after mile 2, I got passed by a group of about six runners who were moving slightly under 6:00. I recognized a few faces from other races in RI, and I knew I couldn't hang, so I settled in with the first female and another guy. I could see race-winner, Matt Pelletier, for about 3 miles, then he disappeared on his way to a course record: 59:39. We kept the pace until we hit the hill on the fire road at Fisherville Brook Wildlife Refuge at mile 5. That mile is pretty tough as you go up the slightly washed out dirt road. After that, it was rolling hills with a general upward trend, keeping about a 6:30 pace. I passed the female leader and other guy at the 10 mile marker and just kept pushing the pace to the finish. I pretty much left it all on the road, as I didn't feel I had anything left in the tank when I crossed the finish line.

The worst part was that M, my cousin, and her son were cheering me on at a parked car about 100 yards from the finish. I mistook that as the finish line and checked up, only to realize I still had another 100 to sprint. Darn it. Anyway, I ended up taking 2:34 off of last year's time, and I was really happy about that.

This was my goal race for getting back into shape this fall. Now, I'm kind of taking a week to let my quads and a tweaked hip flexor (thanks to the downhills in this race) rebound. I might run a few slower, shorter runs to keep up general fitness and social contacts, but nothing too challenging until the New Year.