Buffalo Run (Trail) 5k - Race Recap

The pre-race dance!

One of my 2012 goals was to participate in at least one race event every month.  Well, in Kansas City, in February, it's usually VERY cold and there aren't a lot of events to choose from, but when I saw the Buffalo 5K Trail Run at an nature sanctuary in beautiful Parkville, MO I thought it sounded like fun.  I knew it could potentially be very cold and snowy, but Jim and I decided to take our chances. 

Our winter in KC has been very mild so far with temps in the 50s and very little precipitation, but like clock work the rain came in just two days before the race and the temperatures dropped.  We got about an inch or more of rain in the area.  Then on Saturday night before the race we got a dusting of snow.  I wasn't sure what to expect for my first trail race given the weather, but I was still ready to give it a go.

So Jim and I got up Sunday - it was cold, but not too terrible at all.  It was about 35 degrees and sunny, so once you got going it really wasn't bad at all.  The trail was very nice with alot of it covered in pea gravel or mulch.  There was really only one bad stretch that was very muddy and slippery.  It was a fairly long downhill stretch of probably a half mile or so.  I had to be super careful about my footing, but managed to navigate the trail without biting it -so that made me very happy.

You start the run with some small rolling hills, and some bridges.  I was rolling along pretty well for the first mile.  Then right after the first mile you start up a huge hill.  You climb just over 200 feet from mile 1 to 1.7.  That's some serious elevation.  I was initially running up this hill, but realized (as most people around me did) that it would probably be better to walk it if I didn't want to die.  Once you crest the hill, the rest of the race is pretty much downhills or again some small rolling hills.  The downhill section was pretty tricky, but it was kind of fun too, lots of mud and rocks.

This was my first trail race and I thought it was a blast.  It was a really small race with only about 250 runners.  I was surprised with how great I actually felt throughout the race.  It made me happy with my current fitness level.  Although my overall pace was pretty slow for a regular 5K I was happy with my finish time (for me).  I finished with a 12:51 pace overall, but was honestly expecting to be around 14 or 15 minutes.  You can see from my Garmin splits, that hill really impacted my overall time.  But, I would definitely do this race again.

Jim - of course - managed to not only win his age group, but to also finish 2nd overall!  Congrats Jim.  You rock Baby!!!!