Run With The Deer Flies 25K, Yellow Creek, PA

July 25, 2009 - I had run this event two years ago in its inaugural year and had a good time getting together with some of the Indiana-based runners. It's got hills and stream crossings and twisty trails to motor on, so it fit the bill after running at Creemore three weeks before in another 25K. After picking up Mike Monyak, we met John, Doug, and Bob for the journey to Yellow Creek. It is always a better time when we travel to the races together.

While rainless, the day proved humid but not overly warm. After socializing an hour we headed off together to hit the trails. Mike dashed out in front quickly in his chase to do the 15K event in an hour and a half. I was a bit stiff from doing too much wood cutting and lifting the day before, so started easy to see what kind of day would unfold. By three miles I was into stride as I went by Mike. The first 15K went by quickly with a check time of 81 minutes before tackling the last 10K on the hills. The trail largely twisted through the woods with lots of turns, much like many of my training runs on the trails around my house. There were some dirt roads and grassy runways as well to up the tempo and race. There seemed to be a lot of people ahead of me, even though I was racing at my best, which surprised me.

The last 10K took us up and down three steep hills and twice across the spillway through water up to our knees below the dam holding back the lake. The hills ground me to a walking pace going up and a return to racing the twisty trails back down. While I was sweating profusely I didn't encounter any deer flies and for the most part enjoyed the event. I was generally tired during the last 10K, in part from the heat and humidity, but kept at it to finish 18th overall and first in the 50+ age category for an award.

After a couple beers I was ready to go again, having not run fast enough to get very tired. I probably won't be back to race here again, but this is a great course for a good woods training run.