Trail of Payne 10k 2023 aka last run of the New Balance Minimus MT00.



I used some Shoe Goo to make my old New Balnce Minimus shoes ready for race day. Those shoes have been great for this course because they drain so well and do very well on grass and less technical trails.

It was a warm and humid morning, not my favorite racing weather. I feel good about my effort and performance, 40:30 which was exactly 1 minute faster than the year before.

I was 3rd overall to earn this nice custom award (usable as a charcuterie or cutting board or just as a piece of art) and a gift certificate to Lloyd Clarke Sports:



Results: https://results.raceroster.com/v2/en-...XgcBPnrDtk



Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8774456743

By the end of the race, the Minimus uppers had started to separate a bit and I figured that re-gluing every seam would detract a lot from the benefits of this shoe (light weight and flexible) and I just don't want to risk them falling apart during a race. I retired them.

I noticed that I had not blogged about the 2022 race. I think I didn't have a single photo. But it was a big year because I actually won the race!

Results: https://results.raceroster.com/v2/en-...?subEvent=



Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/6885230338

According to the race website, the Assault on Blackrock 7 mile trail race includes 2,770 feet of elevation gain to the achieve the summit of BlackRock at 5,810 feet.



It was a cold morning in Sylva, North Carolina. With the temperature just below freezing in the parking lot, it was nice that they had a fire going.



This was a hard race... the cold air burned my lungs and the steep climb had me walking much more than I expected. After starting off a little too fast I was able to maintain a top-10 position all the way to the top.

The top of the mountains were all frosted over and as we climbed the last final frigid singletrack the whole thing was pretty magical. The temperature dropped and the trees were white and an occasional "snowflake" drifted down.





I passed one other runner on the way down the mountain to finish in 8th place overall. But best of all... I beat the 101 minute challenge and eared a belt buckle!






Here are some more photos from the top of Blackrock:

Not my fastest finish and I didn't hit my usual goal of going under 1 hour but on this warm and humid day I actually placed higher in my age group than ever before at this race (4th place!) and 117th male overall out of over 5200 men. I think the conditions definitely impacted a lot of other runners, too.



I started a little further back than usual in the start coral this year. There were a lot of other runners around and in front of me for most of the first mile but I stayed relaxed and gradually worked my way forward. Sometimes I have a tendency to go out too fast so I figured this would actually be ok to help keep my pace under control.

By the Main Street bridge I was locked in to my planned race pace with plenty of room to run.



At this point I was still smiling and able to give a thumbs up to the camera:

Springs Run 7.2k at First Magnitude Brewery.



I enjoyed a beer in my new mug:



I was 3rd overall, 1st in my age group, finish time of 27:32 for an average of 6:09 per mile.

Race T-shirt and awards:



The race was held on Feb. 4, 2023. Race Results:

https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/26...erpage:100

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8504734149

Greenville Track Club Downtown 5k 2023

I won my age group!



Finished in a time of 18:28, averaging 5:57 per mile.

Results: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/52...tId-363564

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8427570190


Nice long-sleeve t-shirt and the award for age group winners was a piece of artwork:

This was a nice 8k Thanksgiving day run in downtown Greenville, SC. The course ran thru downtown, along the Reedy River, around Unity Park, and back to downtown.

I wore my turkey costume. :)





Finish time of just over 31 minutes.



Results: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/69...erpage:100

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8161952498