Snyder's Shoes!: Ault Park Switchback

The popular Dirt Days Series stopped at the very pretty and popular Ault Park today. I suspect most park visitors take in the river views, take pictures of the manicured greenery and throw Frisbees for their pups. On this day a few hundred runners took on about 4 miles of trails, some easy, some technical, and some “straight up” hard, literally.

Still recovering from the dreaded plantar fasciitis, it’s my first race since last Fall’s Stone Steps. I am only training 20 miles a week at this point so I’m a bit nervous about injury and fitness. I plan on adding 5-7 miles a week to reach 60+ by Stone Steps this year, so this will be a good test.

The crowd was a mix of “typical” trail runners (trail runners are not typical), and a few trying their first trail race. I would like to have seen their faces when they saw the first steep and long climb. There was also a very wide range of ages from 11 to 66. It’s cool and a bit disturbing to see a 70 lb, 11 year old kid flying down the trails, all legs and arms. (from the rear, that is)

I managed a top half overall and led the group of half-a-dozen geezers. (60+ = geezer) So a pretty good day considering I was cautious (on decents) and winded (walked some climbs), but the legs, and foot were ok.

I wandered over to the finish line and cheered on about 30 or so finishers. I love to do that, and I know they appreciate it.