Indian Trails 15K

I was looking to run a race before the upcoming Jersey Shore Relay on April 16th and the Indian Trails 15K fit the bill. The main reason I wanted to run was I am approaching my 500th race of my career and I wanted the Jersey Shore Marathon Relay to be number 500. I had heard so much about the Indian Trails run, mainly the hills and the views. Chris Kelly was planning on running and suggested I run also.

I was hoping the weather would be better than the previous two weekends and it was perfect. The sun was shining with a slight breeze with temps in the 40s. I picked up the Senator at 7:15 and off we went to the race. Ken wasn't running but volunteering.

After getting my number and t-shirt, I met up with Chris, the RVRR runners, Mike W & Brian Borden. There were lots of familiar faces and many of the area's top runners. Race started at 9am and it went off on time. Mike W and I ran together for the first mile hoping to hit mile 1 in 8 minutes. We ran a 7:28 first mile which I thought at the time might have been too fast. It was a slight downhill start so that contributed to the fast start. I hit mile 2 in 14:47 and was feeling pretty good so I wasn't so worried about the pace. I figured I would go at this pace until I bonked knowing there would be some serious hills coming up.

The course and views were very nice and the hills were challenging. I slowed climbing most of the hills but picked it up on the downhills so it was evening out. I was hitting my splits at just under the 7:30 pace which was making me happy. At mile 6 I still was on the 7:30 but at mile 8 after a steep long hill I was now slightly over. When I crested the hill at Mile 8, I was breathing pretty heavy, but I knew the rest of the race would be mostly downhill.

I just didn't think it would be really downhill. I had the wind in my face going downhill but it felt good. I ran hard the last mile and finished the race in 1:09:25 which is a 7:27 pace. Not bad for a hilly course.

I was extremely happy with my time and the race. The awards took longer than they should have to be given out. Mike Dixon of RVRR was the overall winner in 49:46 which was a new course record being the first guy to go sub 50 on the hilly course. I was running on the RVRR open team which we came in 2nd behind Sneaker Factory.

Ken and I headed over to On the Deck in Atlantic Highlands with a bunch of other runners for a beer and some food. The place had great views of the bay, but was a bit too windy to enjoy on this day.