7 Races in 28 Days

This past weekend I completed my 6th and 7th races during the last 28 day stretch up at the Pineland Farm's Trail Running Festival.  Our friends Jen and Keith joined us and we stayed at a family friends house in Cumberland.  Keith and I took on the Barefoot 5K Saturday and Jen joined us for the 25K on Sunday.

I have not raced with a frequency this high since high school.  6 of the 7 races were just 5Ks (the 7th was a 25K).  Putting in repeated hard efforts takes somewhat of a toll on the body. 

River Walk
1st stop was at the River Walk Brewery in Amesbury.  What better way to kill some time and avoid traffic? Our friends Betsy and Steve own the brewery and are now open for business.  Friday was the 1st day they were selling growlers.   

The Races
The barefoot 5K was at 11:10 Saturday morning and 25K was at 10 Sunday morning.  We stayed with Amy's family friends, Julie and Dale (who get a shout out for the amazing hospitality) just a 15 minute drive from the race sight.  The barefoot race didn't go to close to plan (aka not at all) as the trail was much rockier then I expected.  The 25K went pretty well, but the repeated ups and downs were pretty tough on my already sore calf muscles.  None the less, I had a great time and am glad to be back to trail racing.  We capped off the trip with some Maine Lobsters on Sunday night.  What more could you ask for?   

Fun Stats:
Below are a couple of fun statistics from my racing over the last month. 

- Fastest Mile: 5:41 -- 1st mile of the Groton 5K -- 1st race
- Slowest Mile: 13:31 -- 3rd mile of the Pineland Farm's Barefoot 5K - 6th race
- Difference between Fastest and Slowest Mile: 245%
- Hilliest Race -  Pineland Farm's 25K (1850ft of climbing) - 7th race
- All 4 Lunch 5K's were run at a pace between 6:09 and 6:11
- Total Running: 114.98 Miles, 15 hours, 11 minutes, 6000 ft Climbing, 13543 Calories

What I have learned:
- I can race frequently, but not quite this frequently.  I hammered out my 1st two 5Ks without much thought.  Following that, my legs started to lose some pop and my ability to suffer started to drop, even with some additional rest days
- Racing back to back days is really hard on the body, even if one of them was just prancing around barefoot
- It is fun to win races, but the challenge of taking on a hard race is much more rewarding
- Trails are superior to roads in all aspects
- My feet are far too tender to run barefoot. 



Needless to say my legs need a break.  I am taking this whole week off from running (will continue to cross train) before picking back up for my next endeavor (The Mass Ave Mile).   We are already eying our next trail festival at the end of the summer at Jay Peak

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