5 peaks race #4 - Terra Cotta

4 down, one to go. I'm hanging in there near the top for the 50-59 age group series points, by virtue of showing up at all 4 events so far and holding my own in them. I'm guaranteed one of the top 3 spots for the series (not first, I'm too far back) as the 16 point differential between me and spot #4 is more than 15 points. However, I'm essentially tied with the #3 spot, given that the 4 best results are used for series points. This gives both me and this competitor 37 points for our best 3 events so far. To retain 2nd place at the end, either I beat him, or he finishes 6th or worse in the Albion Hills.

Therefore my task is simple enough. Train hard over the remaining 7 weeks, find this runner at the start of the race, start with him and try to finish ahead of him. If I start in the wrong wave or the wrong spot in the right wave, it'll make it a lot harder to do.

I just finished 2 weeks vacation. Didn't do much running for the first week. At the cottage we rented for the 2nd week I looped lake every day but one. The route is about 10k, very hilly and a good workout each day. Now it's back to the grind, going out in the AM for as much as I can fit in, then squeezing in 5 easy miles mid day.

As for Terra Cotta, very strange course. I commented to another runner that this woud be a very easy course to cheat on, given the number of close interactions between segments. One point in particularly, it's a segment out to a drink station, then you loop a field and return over the same segment, then split off in another direction. Anyone wanting to could just skip that whole segment with a quick right turn and knock a few minutes off their time. And since it's 2 loops, they could do it twice. The runner I was talking to said he saw a couple of runners do just that. I'd like to think that runners are generally honest, but I guess there are exceptions unfortunately.

The Albion Hill course shows similar close encounters between segments. I'll be watching closely to see how those around me fare.