Hog Jog 5K

Today, I woke up before the alarm. I completed a full, 9.5 hour sleep cycle and was ready to go kick up some dust at the Hog Jog Cross Country race. I prepared myself in a matter of minutes and was ready for any scenario. The race was in a remote area of Orange Park, which called for about a 1 hour drive. My goal for this race was to finish in a decent time, PRing if the conditions were right. My mom and I were out the door by 7:00 AM and I could tell from the start that I would perform well. We got there just in time for me to warm up with the rest of my teammmates and check out the course. It was a two-loop course with a portion of the loop being like a beach with very loose sand. I figured this would slow me down by a bit depending on how well I ran for the remainder of the race. With about ten minutes until the start of the race, I stripped off my outer layers and placed myself up near the front of the line. Eventually, it was time to start and the cannon fired. Everyone began in a mad dash to get their place on the narrow trail. I was amused by many kids sprinting for the first 200 meters and then proceeding to burn out in a matter of seconds. I got into a groove but before I could try to speed up I went up a small incline and into the white, loose, sand. I weaved side to side, looking for a hard patch to push off of. I endured what seemed like several seconds getting added to my time because of slipping on the sand. The couse finally took a turn into the forest and found some hard ground that would lead me up to the 1st mile marker which I passed in 6:59. The trail meandered its way through the forest and then came out into a clearing followed by a loop around the lake. By then I was competing with a fellow competitor of mine, struggling to keep up with the quick pace. We finished loop one and headed back to sand. The only difference this time though was that I attacked it a little more, trying to retrieve some seconds that I lost on the first loop. I passed mile 2 in 13:55, meaning I sped up on the second mile. I tried to keep hold onto my pace and finished strong. Once I made it out of the forest I knew I was home and finished in 21:45. I was satisfied with myself and rewarded myself with a couple cookies. The fast time made up for the presence of no award since my age group was 11-14. I can sense the improvement after a month of training and hope to beat my dad in next week's Native Sun Mandarin 10K. I can almost guarantee a PR for myself but can't tell how close the race between me and my dad will be. My dad ran a 1:25 in a 10-mile training run today, which makes me a little nervous. So long and keep running!