Mock XC

Saturday morning I had the privilege of running the 4th annual Mock Marathon. I have ran all 4 versions of this with the Runnersworld gang and each year it keeps getting bigger. It was amazing to me this year to see all the different people from the other running stores come out and do it. The course has changed again this year and we venture downtown a lot in the first half, so it was good to see what kind of hills were on that part of the course.
We started at 7:30 am, the same time as the real Route 66 marathon. I wanted to go slow as I have not done a long run for awhile. I started out running with Aaron Ochoa and we were going about a 8:40 pace. We were joined by Curtis at about mile 6. I have never ran with him before, but got a chance to talk to him while running the rest of the course. He has done several other races and is looking at getting under 4 hours on Route 66.

The downtown piece had a few hills, but overall I did think it was too bad. The worst is on Cincinnati, but other than that, I think it will very doable for a PR. The second half is flat on Riverside. We went through all the downtown part together and once we got on Riverside, we lost Aaron. Curtis and I hung together until about mile 19, when I said I wanted to drop some faster miles at the last. I did the next mile at 7:08 and the last one at 6:56. I felt really good and I know I am in good condition for the Marathon.
Later on that day, we went out to check the Cyclocross races at Chandler Park. I have read about them, but had never actually got a chance to see them. The bikes are slightly different than a road bike with different tires and brake set ups. The cool thing about it is that it is on grass with hills and obstacles that you have to dismount and carry your bike over. It really reminded me of trail running. This is the start of the Cat 4's, Masters, and Single Speeds.
They had a kids race that I entered Wyatt in. Here he is at the beginning. It was a real short course and he was disappointed it was not longer. His comment was that he could have ran the whole thing.
He ended up with second place and got a medal. He is really athletic and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for him.


I really hope this video turns out as there was this kid on a single speed that did not dismount on his bike and carry it over the barricades. He actually jumped both the barricades with his bike. It was truly awesome and I am sure the video does not do it justice.