ORRC Hagg Lake Run

Last Saturday I ran the ORRC Hagg Lake Run which is a 10.4 mile run on the road that circles Hagg Lake. As of last year, this race has become my post-Boston Marathon recovery test. It is a challenging course...it is described as having a few hills, but it's basically nothing but ups and downs. I ran it in 1:07:07 last year and this year I hoped to break 1:05:00.

My sister Kristin, my brother-in-law Carlos, and their friend Kevin were at the race too. Kristin and Carlos are both training for the Newport Marathon at the end of May...unfortunately Carlos has been nursing a knee injury since the Peterson Ridge Rumble 30K...so he was a race day decision. He jumped out of the car, ran a few hundred yards up and down the road and declared himself ready to run. In the week leading up to the race, I encouraged Kristin to run the race hard...I figured it would be a good test of her fitness 4 weeks out from the marathon. I suggested a goal of breaking 1:40:00. Kevin ran the Big Sur International Marathon last weekend in 3:18:24, a great time on a tough course, so I wasn't sure how much he would push it during this race.

As the race started, two guys took off in front of me and I could see they were going much too fast for me to keep up. We ran across the dam, made a left turn, and headed up a huge hill. I felt good early on and according to my Garmin, I was running the uphill miles in the 6:20's and the downhill miles under 6:10. I remember really starting to feel the uphills somewhere around the 5 or 6 mile mark. However, I also noticed that I ran about a 38:30 10K, which is only 20 seconds off my PR. By mile 8, I was just hanging on going uphill, but was still able to put the hammer down going downhill. As I approached the finish, I could see I was going to be close to 1:05:00. I was able to hold on and came in third at 1:04:55. Perfect...I was very happy with the race.

After I finished, I went back to my truck to get my camera to take a picture of Kristin, Carlos, and Kevin finishing. I got back over by the finish line around 1:30:00, and figured I had plenty of time before they would be finishing. Then all of the sudden I looked down the road and Kristin was finishing! I was totally unprepared with the camera...this is the best shot I got of the Future Cougar Star.

She finished in 1:33:47, well over six minutes under 1:40:00...I was very impressed. It's really satisfying to see good training paying off. She is going to do great at Newport because she is well prepared. Kristin wasn't too sure how Carlos and Kevin were doing...she last saw them only a couple miles into the race. To make a long story short, Carlos and Kevin still hadn't finished over 2:30:00 since the start of the race. I had to leave because I had to go into work that afternoon, and Kristin was going to drive down the road to try and find them. I found out later that Carlos had to walk most of the course because of the knee injury and I believe Kevin decided to walk with him. I was glad to hear they were OK.

As is tradition, after the race I stopped at the Hagg Lake convenience store for a pickled egg or two and was very distraught to find that they were out of them! It just didn't feel right leaving Hagg Lake without one.

Tomorrow is the McDonald Forest 50K...I've had a tough week...high mileage, very busy at work, and definitely not enough sleep...so we'll see what I'm made of.