Monday, November 7, 2011

Allerton Park Trail Run 2011

The Allerton Park Trail Run is held in, shockingly, Allerton Park just west of Monticello.  The annual race is organized by the Second Wind running club and has a pretty long and storied history in the area.

Last year I ran the race. In costume.  I remember breaking 50 minutes, but had to consult the offical results to confirm my 2010 race time of 49:37 (9:01 pace).  I was hoping to do a little better this year.

Is 41:46 (7:19 pace) better than 49:37?  Why yes, I think it is. And the course was even a bit longer than last year. 

The Allerton race course is fairly flat for a trail race, and not very technical.  It does, however, have a section in the first quarter mile that gets very congested if you are running with the main pack.  So I decided to go out with the fast folks this year, and ended up running the first two miles at sub-7 minute pace.  And I learned that I cannot run more than 2 miles at that pace.  It was painful, but I was able to finish the final 3.7ish miles even though my pace slowed with each mile (negative splits are for pansies who obviously aren't working hard enough early in the race).

Want to see what the race course looks like?  Yes?  This video will give you an idea, but I suggest you take a Dramamine before hitting play.


Allerton Trail Run - Course Preview from Nick Paulson on Vimeo.