This is a bit of a personal post on a tech blog. If the title got you here, then I am sorry there is nothing about tech in this piece, but it is a race report on my most recent race in West Orange, New Jersey (NJ) and a bit about me. On January 16th, I took to the hills of Northern NJ in the South Mountain Reservation to run the Frosty Fat Sass: 6-hour, a race to raise funds for the South Mountain Conservancy. This one was interesting because it was considered semi-virtual; meaning, for the competitors, they marked the trail and told us there were four days to get out there and run. Did I mention it had rained the previous 24 hours? So it was less of running on trail and more of running in mud and creeks.

In total, I completed 10+ laps of the 3.15-mile loop for a total of 33.34 miles. It was a load of fun making friends out there and just having a day. So how did the laps go? Well, if you know me, I tend to have a bit of zeal when I start things; so the first lap was a little too fast. I finished it and thought to myself: what have you gotten yourself into? I forced a smile on my face and rolled into the second, and it just clicked. I found the pace and kept it going. The loop had about 289ft of elevation that made for some difficulty as if you know Hoboken where I train, it’s flat and at sea level which makes training for hills quite difficult. The back half of the loop had all the climbing, so I knew that if I pushed a little there I would have the next loop’s front half to recover. I kept up the strategy for the rest of the laps.

Around mile 28, my little sister, Gill, joined me. As she runs for sport in college, she wasn’t the best pacer to have. She wanted to go faster, and I wanted to maintain a nice pace and let the last hour tick away. After some sibling rivalry, we found that pace and finished it. In the end, I took 4th place; though I accomplished the consistent performance I aimed to have.