Story
I completed the Challenge today by running Ludlowville with an eye on the 1:14:50 at the top of the leaderboard. I would need to average 6:48 pace or better to move into first place. I banked a little bit of time on the slightly uphill Salmon Creek Road in preparation for the aptly-named Brooks Hill Road. The climb was tough and put me behind goal pace at mile 4, but the hardest part was over. I enjoyed the subsequent downhills and had an uneventful run until mile 8.
I knew that course was mostly right turns. When I arrived at Searles Road Exn couldn’t remember if it was a dead end or part of the course. There was no dead end sign so I figured I should run down a bit and make sure. It was indeed a dead end, so I turned around and got back on course. I lost about two minutes. My run had been comfortably ahead of goal pace at that point but now I was cutting it close.
Thankfully, the massive downhill on Brickyard Road helped me get back on pace. The final uphill was mercifully short and I finished in 1:14:06 (Strava).