Hudson Booster Cross Country 5K Open

I ran the Hudson Booster Cross Country 5K Open Saturday. This is one of my favorite races of the year. I have been running this race since 2003. It takes place on one of the county's toughest high school cross country courses.

It rained before the race and during the race. Besides the rain, we were also dealing with humidity. The humidity at race time was above 90%. When the course is dry, it is super fast. Since it had been raining, the course was slow. Most of the course is grass, except for loose dirt on most of the bigger hills. The loose dirt hadn't turned to complete mud yet, but if it rained more, it would have been.

After the horn sounded, I found myself in the middle of the pack again. A bunch of people in front of me were taking off and creating a gap. I wondered to myself if I was starting too slowly. Probably 400 meters into the race, the people that started out quickly, I found myself catching up with them. Before making a turn into the woods, I passed 4-5 other runners. When running into the woods, the grass turns to dirt. The dirt was soft. The path takes us to our first downhill and I was watching my step. I mentioned the dirt was soft, but also loose. I put both of my arms out straight for balance. Going down the first hill, the course goes around a bend and leads to an uphill. The uphill is steep and the dirt was soft and loose. I decided to run on the left side of the hill on grass. The footing was a little better.

Once I climbed the uphill, I found myself behind a pack of teen girls. I followed them on the path that soon would lead us out of the woods. When leaving the woods, the path opens up to a grassy hillside. With plenty of room, I passed the girls on the right side. When I was in front of them, I was alone for a while.

I caught up to another group around the mile marker. I ended up staying behind them. The start of mile 2 leads us into woods again and more hills. I could tell that I was slowing down because the pack in front of me was getting away. I was able to catch up to three of the runners when they stopped for water at an aid station. While passing them, I caught up to two more teen girls. I hung behind them for a couple of minutes. I ended up passing them and soon some teen boys.

Running towards mile marker two, I ended up passing a guy. The course takes us from a straightaway onto a short uphill climb into a wooded section. The guy ended up passing me on my right heading into the woods. I was hoping to stay on him, but he slowly started pulling away. Heading out of the wooded area, we had to running around the outside of the high school track. It was there that I caught and passed a teen boy and a girl. The boy looked like he had nothing left, but the young girl looked like she was still going strong.

At this point there is only a half mile until the end of the race. I could hear people running behind me, so I tried to keep a good pace to keep them behind me. The course leads us back into the woods that we ran in at the beginning of the race. So that meant I had a huge downhill first then an uphill second. On the downhill, I took my time. I remember seeing people losing their footing on this hill in previous years and I really didn't want to do a header. When I was at the bottom of the hill, I knew I needed to pick it up. The last uphill wasn't too bad. The loose dirt slowed me down a little. Heading out into the woods, I knew I needed a good last kick. I started my final sprint and was happy that no one caught me. Soon after that thought, I heard a mother yell at her daughter to catch me. With about 20 meters left, the girl caught me on the left and passed me. I wasn't too upset that she caught me. We were both sprinting and working hard. Her kick was just better then mine. I finished the race in 28:43.54 and placed first in my age group.