Sun 10/18 - AM 80 minutes incl. 4m trail race

Another in the "picking the scab" racing tour. Also the third and final race of my personal series of Gloucester events. This one stood out for having the most difficult and generally insane course of any event I've ever done. I should have known better as the course description mentioned stretches of technical single track. Most of the course certainly fit that bill. I thought it would be like having a race on trails similar to Great Hill but these trails are far twistier and rockier than GH's. After doing the last 3 miles or so as a warmup I downgraded my goals from trying to win to trying not to break an ankle. Terrain and footing I wouldn't even run on under normal conditions, much less race. Unending rollercoaster of ups and downs, the billygoat trails seemed to have the steepest sharpest of these. Multiple boardwalk crossings in the first mile as well, which were dangerously slippery with the rain that was falling all morning. I was forced to slow down to a jog because I didn't want to fall off, which was a genuine possibility. Inability to handle the steep rocky descents had me in second place the first half of the race and feeling like I was falling further and further back despite the fact I wasn't breathing that hard. Found myself in the lead after that guy took a wrong turn. Thought he would catch me in short order on the worst descent on the course which came soon after but that didn't happen. Had a moment on that descent where I more or less slid across the top of a rock which doesn't sound bad, except the rock wasn't flat-topped and I had the distinct sense I had dodged a major bullet. Celebrated this by screaming an f-bomb for no one but the guy behind me to hear. Course went steadily uphill most of the way after that and I ended up pulling away. I had no idea of this until the last 400m or so but when I saw that I was in the clear I jogged it in the rest of the way. Certainly the most uninspiring looking finish ever for the dozen or so hardy souls waiting at the line. Snuck in under the 30 minute barrier, time was 2-4 minutes slower than previous winning efforts. Even with decent fitness I can't imagine running this course in 26 minutes due to the "technical" (i.e. batshit crazy) nature of it. Hip held up reasonably well during the race considering the abuse it was getting, as expected it started stiffening up within 3 minutes of finishing. Cooldown was a 25 minute superslow crawl around nearby soccer fields utterly exposed to the gales coming in off the ocean. I could literally walk faster than the speed of this cooldown, but at least I was able to keep going. Unable to do much in the way of stretching directly afterwards, but did do some hands-on work with much more planned for later on.