The final race of the season for the Dirty Spokes Trail Racing Series is located at Sawnee Mountain Preserve. The course is a 3.5m trail run starting on the Spot road entrance, running up the right side of Laurel Ridge trail with a transition to Indian Seats trail back to Laurel Ridge to finish at the Sport road park entrance.
The course is a tough 3.5 miles with the first 2.5 miles gradually making your way to the top of the mountain to then spend the next mile running downhill.
It was a bit of a cloudy/misty day which kept the July race cool.
As usual the start was 8:30. Battling the uphill and navigating the downhill I was determined not to take a spill as I did the year before. 35 minutes later crossed the finish line to finish the race and the series. It was a good race and a good series.
The last race of the series is also when the series awards are given out. Due to missing a race and not placing well in the new age group, I did not expect to place this year. To much of my surprise persistence pays off attending 6 of 7 races I had enough points to squeeze out a 3rd place in my age group overall.
So ended the series with a nice reminder why I do what I do. Hopefully I will do better and compete better in 2012. Until we meet again, see you on the trail.
