Monroe Dunbar Brook Trail Race

This 10.5 mile trail race is very technical, have never seen so many runners at the trial side with twisted ankles. It draws a smaller field from what I can tell, in the sticks of Western Massachusetts very far from any beaten path. Last year I won my age group primarily due to the last two race conditions. I also won my age group becuase I tend to run faster as terrain worsens. There are just more reasons for my feet to stay off the ground and I just fly down the hills.



I hope I can pull this off again, but the statistics are not with me. Sunday, it will have been 8 weeks since my last run of 10 miles or greater. That was the disaster at Savoy, just a few miles down the road from Monroe. I love those woods in the north west corner of the state though, and won't stay away.

This past week I ran my first mountain run since Savoy. There are a few solid years of mountain running in these legs now, and two laps of Mt. Tom weren't that bad. I was in fact doing very well reaching the summit for the second time, and opened up my stride on the downhill for some serious speed.

It was a lot of fun. The next day, my legs were shot. Last night I had a nice casual run up to the summit of East Mountain, behind Ashley Reservoir in Holyoke. It went very well, my feet felt much more confident on the technical sections than they did 2 days earlier at Mt. Tom. till jittery at noises, every large shadow seemed like bear even though I only saw deer. I have had enough rocks under my feet to snap my central nervous system into focus. Hopefully, this means I won't break my neck Sunday and there will be a little bit more adrenaline to propel me.