Last weekend I rode the GO. The weekend before I got lazy and did almost nothing. This weekend I wanted to ensure I got in something at least 6 miles and fast…. a 10K! I went online Friday and found the Run the Pines 10K being held around Lake Gregory in Crestline, Ca.

The race was to start at 7 am, and the drive would be at least an hour and a half, so I got up at 3:30 and left about 4:20 to be sure to be there by 6. I was one of the first runners to arrive, but they had their check in tables ready to go.

The race was a road race, up in the mountains. So, it was a paved two loops, but it was constantly up and down, and it was at around 4500 ft elevation. My stomach was feeling a little unsettled before the race, so I did not warm up. I just did some legs swings and I was off.

There were 114 runners. I settled into a top 15 position and it was pretty uneventful after that. About 3 miles in, as we were finishing the first loop I managed to pass a guy. For the next mile I steadily gained on the next two… At about 4 1/2 miles I was just 10 strides back. He found a little something extra though and started pulling away. I saw him catch the next guy and the two of them sprinted UP the last 30m to the finish. It had a crazy short climb up to the finish… My time was 49:09… not too exciting. I was 14th overall which sounds great, but only 4th in my age group…. The 50s are proving to be a tough age group.

As you can see from the video, fellow HDR veteran, John Carey happened to be there.