Cross country in May!

Had a lot of fun running a very low key 5K cross country race in Oberlin yesterday. It was a really great course, about half grass and half woodchip trails. Only problem was that because of a lot of rain over the last week, certain parts of the course were flooded, but that's what true cross country is supposed to be about. I knew the race would be interesting when the pace golf cart gut stuck about a half-mile into the race! As I went past, the driver and another guy were pushing it out of the mud (they managed to get it going again, only to get stuck later). I ran really well and made myself hold back a little early on as I have seemed to die a little at the end of my other XC races I have done. The strategy worked well. The first half of the race felt almost too easy but as soon as I hit some more segments of the course with a lot of mud and knee deep water, I was feeling it. I ended up finishing 3rd overall and 1st master in 17:58. The guy who won the race was Oberlin College's top guy (mid 16's I think) while second place was my friend Graham Wellman (who is also Oberlin's XC coach) who ran 16:50ish. I was more than a minute ahead of fourth place so the race was a very good experience for me to get my XC pacing down. As a final note, thanks to Graham for throwing a very fun post-race BBQ at his house!