Hudson Booster XC 5K Open

I ran the Hudson Booster XC 5K Open Saturday in Hudson. It was a sunny and warm morning. It was also my birthday and would be entering a new age group, 35-39. The county I live in, the age group of 35-39 is very competitive. The ladies in this age group are super fast. Since it was my birthday, the goal of the race was to be competitive and have fun.

When the race started, I found myself in the middle of the pack. I was behind all of the high school, college and former collegiate runners. The course runs through a swamp area. In the swamp, there are some hills. We first run encounter a down hill. The path is covered with sand. The footing is loose and runners need to be careful. Soon we encountered an uphill. The uphill was the same as the downhill, sand was the path on most of it. I decided instead of trying to run on the side where there was a dirt/grass mix, I would just run up the middle and get over the hill as fast as possible. That option worked well as I ran up on the back of a group.

Before crossing the first mile, I was running next to and behind a young boy. Every time I would get beside him, he would look at me and start sprinting away. I crossed the mile mark in 8:50. The start of the second mile, took us through a wooded area. I was able to finally catch and pass the young boy after running up a hill. The course loops around in the woods and we finally pop out and run over grass in a local park. After crossing the two mile mark in 18:49, I was able to chase down a girl. I passed her running around the outside of the Hudson High School track.

The last half mile of the cross country course loops back into the swamp area that we ran through at the start of the race. When I started running down the large hill, I had to slow down. I didn't want to slip on the loose sand. When I made it down the hill safely, I picked up the pace. After that hill, was the final uphill of the course. I ran up the middle again. The sand was making it difficult for me to power up the hill. But I worked at it and finally crested the hill. I was able to ran strong towards the finish line. I crossed the line in 29:21. I was third in my new age group. I was happy to come home with a medal on my 35th birthday.