Pittsford Wildcat Cross Country 5K

I ran the Pittsford Wildcats Cross Country 5K on Saturday. I have only photographed cross country on this course. I have never run on it.

I ran a warm up on the course before the race started. The first thing I noticed was all of the hills and very long inclines. I decided that I would just make a go of it and try my best.

When the gun went off, I found myself near the back of the pack. I was able to use my speed coming off the first huge downhill and started to pass runners. At the start of the race was the only time people passed me. No one else passed me for the rest of the race.

My goal before the first mile was to pass the group ahead of me. In the group was a guy, woman, teen girl and teen boy. I ended up passing all of them. I even passed some of them while running uphill. I ran my first mile in 8:59. Which I thought wasn't bad considering the hilly cross country course.

For the second mile, I had a group in front of me. The group included a couple of boys, girls, guys and a woman. I used the flat part of the course to increase my speed and go faster. But mile two did have its share of hills and long inclines. I worked hard and used my arms while running uphill. I caught two girls before reaching the mile marker 2. I passed the second mile in 9:18. I was slowing down. I knew where I lost time. It was back on the hills and the long inclines.

After reaching mile two, there were two teen boys and a woman ahead of me. I wanted to pass all of them before the end of the race. The boys were closer to me then the woman. My immediate goal was to catch them. I ended up catching up to one of the boys. I followed him for a while and finally passed him on a curve on the course. I tried my hardest to catch the other teen and the woman, but the final hill on the course got me. The course ended with a huge uphill and I lost time to both of them.

I was pleased with my effort on the cross country course. I didn't expect all of the hills and inclines. I did the best that I could. I finished the 5K in 28:24:24 and placed first in my age group. They awarded medals to the top five runners in each age group. I was excited to find out that I topped four other women to win my age group.

I think I will run this race again next year. Pittsford has a nice course and I want to run better on the hills and inclines. Now that I know what to expect when running on that course, I hope to lower my time next year.