Home Court Advantage

This morning I got to wake up in my own bed and drive 20 minutes to Cooper’s Rock State Forest (http://www.coopersrockstateforest.com/) for the third annual Coopers Rock Stump Jump! 10K Trail Run.

Tad and I previewed the course on Wednesday, thanks to race director Nathan Kile’s great course directions. Part of the course was on a trail where I do many training runs so it was nice to be on familiar territory. What a difference it makes going into a race confident of the footing and knowing where all of the twists, turns and climbs are located.

The race start was at 8:30am so I got up before 5:30am to try to get my body awake and moving. It was so nice to prepare in my apartment rather than a hotel room. We got to the course; I registered and then started my warm-up of 2.5miles. It was very humid this morning with temperatures in the mid-70’s. There was a solid turn-out for the race, considering we were sharing the day with WVU’s first home football game against in-state rival Marshall. After the chaos of the start, I found my rhythm sandwiched between two men that helped me keep an honest pace throughout the race. I felt very strong today and was able to keep pushing it. Because the course was so close to home, I was able to have a small fan base that included my mom and dad and Tad’s parents. The cheers of my family definitely made a difference and put an extra skip in my step each time I ran by them. I wore the Inov-8 Roclite 285’s, as did a handful of other competitors. They held up extremely well over the rocky singletrack terrain. I finished first female, third overall and broke the women’s course record by almost 7 minutes.

I am very pleased with my performance today coming off of last week’s 10k trail championship. I felt a lot better and I’m glad I had the opportunity to support a local trail race. Thanks to Nathan Kile and the race volunteers for organizing a great event and to all of the race sponsors. I look forward to visiting Morgantown Running (http://morgantownrunning.com/) with my $50 gift certificate soon and buying a new pair of Inov-8's!