A good old-fashioned cross-country race is the perfect reminder that when you're running in Prospect Park ... realize that it's a park! And take advantage of the varying terrains rather than doing loop after 3.35 mile loop.
Today's Everything But the Kitchen Sink X/C race started just north of the Picnic House on the western edge of the park. One full loop of the meadow, sticking the edges, and doing those short, but very steep hills, and then a run down to the ballfields before heading off into the woods and doing a mix of trail, pavement, grass to create a second loop, both of them roughly 2 miles. Doesn't that sound more fun that doing two loops of Central Park as part of the Manhattan Half?
The challenging part of today's race was the terrain. Unlike the grassy section of Van Cortlandt, which seemed comparatively pancake flat, the loop of the long meadow was complete with undulating hills, tree roots and branches, sandy ballfield, and beat-up fields that have shoe prints from countless soccer games frozen in place.
No results yet (probably in the next day), but that ultimately wasn't the point for most of us today.
I'll pull together a list of local trail races, with links, in the next day or two, for those who are interested. Noting the Urban Environmental Challenge in early April, a North Face sponsored Endurance run in mid-April, the Leatherman's Loop later that month, and the Long Island Greenbelt 25K and 50K in early May - a link to most of them is here.
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