I'm in Pittsburgh for the weekend, and this morning I ran an 8k XC race in Frick Park. Frick Park is a good-sized park with miles of trails. I ran this race three years ago and ran something like 32:30. This year I wanted to beat that time, but also get close to or below 30:00. The course is rolling, going both up and down. If you run the 8k race (there is also a 2k and 4k), you have to go up a 3/4 mile long hill, but then you get to come back down. I ran 31:32 and finished 5th. I'm pleased with my performance, especially since I caught the guy who had been ahead of me for about 6k of the race with 200 or so meters to go, but the hill just killed me. I'm not a strong hill runner, and that wil be something I work on before I run the Pittsburgh Marathon in the spring, since it is a hilly course.
I cooled down with some people after the race and was able to talk a little track. There's not many people I know who can hold a conversation about elite US or world distance running.
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