Trail Nerds Kick Butt on a Hot Weekend

Saturday:
Well, the Xterra Stump Jump trail race (last Saturday) was a blast. Several of us Trail Nerds showed up at Clinton Lake State Park in Lawrence, Kansas to run in the trail 10K and/or 5K. Some of us decided to run the course prior to the race to do a recon/warm-up. We were dripping wet by the end of our warm-up from the high heat and humidity. Trail conditions were perfect though...no dust, but no mud, either, and the dirt was perfectly tacky. The course was moderately hilly and moderately technical.

Racing Highlights:
Caleb Chatfield and I were both going to run at an 85% effort, since we both have 50-mile trail races within the next 2 weeks. I stuck to my plan, but I still won my age group in the 10K, at 49-minutes. Woo-hoo! Caleb may or may not have run at a 100% effort, but he still ended up crushing the competition like an elephant stepping on a can of Bud Light. He finished the 10K in a speedy 35-minutes and change, for first place overall! Jessica N. was first in her age group in the 10K. Greg Burger took first in his age group in the 10K (and 4th overall), and then he ran in the 5K and placed 2nd in his age group! Every Trail Nerd that ran in the event(s), did well. It just shows that if you train on trails, you can run races on trails pretty darn well.

Three of us ended up having a decent breakfast at Wheatfields after Saturday's race. We were home before 11:30 a.m.

Sunday:
Ten trail runners showed up at Kill Creek Park, to train on technical trails on a very hot Sunday morning. We ended up doing two 1-hour & 20-minute loops. Some of us had about 2:44:00 worth of running in for the day. Not bad, since it was 96F, by the time we finished.

Stay hydrated out there, and don't forget the electrolytes!

Happy trails,
Bad Ben