ENDURrun 2018, Stage 3: 30K

Yesterday was the first of the bigger stages of the ENDURrun. It was the 30 km cross country stage at Bechtel Park in Waterloo, a 5km loop with grass, road, hills, and trails, run 6 times.

My back was feeling much better, so I was cautiously optimistic for this one.

As I started running, I felt good, and was actually in race mode mentally for the first time in a long time. Unfortunately, that didn't last the whole race. I fell out of race mode in the fourth loop. It suddenly got really hot mid-stage, but I'm not using that as an excuse, the drop in pace was all me.
I did still increase my lead over 4th place, which was my main goal going into this stage, so I'm happy enough with it. Hopefully one of these days I'll get back into (and be able to stay in) mental race mode.

First 3 laps were pretty consistent and solid:
(1) 24:11, (2) 24:14, (3) 24:16

The second half looks like a different race all together:
(4) 25:05, (5) 25:42, (6) 25:42

I finished in 2:29:10, which is again my second fastest time on this course (the theme so far this week). I also broke my streak of improving on this stage every year, but I knew that was going to happen. I hadn't put in the work to be at last year's level of fitness.

Standings after Stage 3:

Men
1 Rob
2 Aidan
3 Dave
4 Nick
5 Christian

Women
1 Robyn
2 Val
3 Me
4 Rebecca
5 Lisa

Last night, was sushi night, a tradition for the last 5 or 6 years, then a few of us went out for a beer afterward; it was both a fun and delicious evening.

Tonight is the 10 miler on a hilly road at 6pm, my least favourite stage, but at least it's a shorter one. Hopefully it's not super hot.