Stowe Race Recap

I'm a little behind on my blogging, but not by much, and I'd be remiss if I didn't post a race recap from Stowe. I ran a 1:03:59, which comes out to about an 8 min/mile average, and I felt strong through pretty much the whole thing.

The odds were stacked against me when I went to bed the night before the race - tired, travel-weary, wasp sting on my arch (note to self: don't walk barefoot in the grass), too much to eat/drink - but I woke up to a perfect race morning. My stomach was OK, I got out of bed without too much complaining, my foot was feeling better, and it was a cool morning. I rolled up to the start thinking "It doesn't get much more perfect than this" and when the race director shouted "GO" through his megaphone, I was ready to attack it.

Now, it's important to also note the course itself at this time. Field start (read: running through grass/dirt for the first little bit), PLENTY of hills (see green elevation line below), and one packed dirt road that felt like it went on forever and made me nervous about rolling an ankle. There was also a headwind for the first couple miles, and by the last two the sun was blazing.









So, all that being said, I ran a great race, and the 8 minute pace average isn't representative of my splits - it's representative of the mile with the steep climb that dragged down my average.

And of course, good race or bad, the weekend itself was wonderful and filled with good friends, good food, good beer, and lots of laughs. So in the end, who cares how I ran?