Cross-country in the Summer!

You sprinted across a field of shin-height grass before entering a tree-lined, dirt trail; then climbed a gravel path; and surged down a muddy hill all while hoping your spikes dug deep enough into the ground to prevent you from falling. And you only had to run 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) to accomplish all of this. That's because you just completed a cross-country race.

That just about sums up why the fall, also known as cross-country season, is my favorite time of year. Unfortunately that means during the rest of the year, I am feeling a little gloomy. . .until now! The cause of my unusually high spirits outside of autumn is me having learned of a summer cross-country series.

The NJ Trail Series is hosting 5k cross-country races all summer long! Finally, I get to enjoy my favorite sport in a second season of the year!

If you are also someone who can't get enough cross-country, please join me today (May 27th) in the next 5k race of the XC Summer Series. In fact, I would encourage you to come out and run every Wednesday night this summer.

The race official yells "go" at 6:45 pm every Wednesday. The course is in Morris County's Central Park, which is located at 91 Central Ave in Morris Plains, NJ. Registration begins at 6 pm.

For adults, each race is $10, while youths pay $8 per race.

You can also pay a larger fee that covers all of the remaining races of the 14-race series.

The competitions continue through August 26. Visit this address for more information about the series.

My Recap of the HoHa Classic

On Sunday, I ran my first race since November 2013—the HoHa Classic.

By the end of mile one, I already felt worn out. The next few miles continued to beat me down. I couldn't even push out a kick during the race's last quarter mile around Pier A Park—in fact, not even during the final 100 meters.

Well, at least no ligament, tendon or muscle pain was to blame for my sluggishness. I was simply out of shape. Despite my less than stellar performance (I averaged 7:39/mile), I am thrilled to have gotten through a full five-mile race; achieving such a feat had seemed unattainable last year, when my right ankle was aching with every step.

Instead of continuing to discuss my huffings and puffings, I would like to direct your attention to the many runners who finished among the top in their age groups and the entire field of competitors.

Many of these runners are members of the Hoboken Harriers better known as the—HoHas—the race's sponsors and the running club I grew so fond of when I lived in Hoboken a couple of years ago.

My first shout-out goes to Victor Matveev. He finished number 1 in his age group and ninth overall, with a time of 30:48.1. A fun fact about this consistently successful runner is that he completed his first marathon just two weeks prior to the HoHa Classic.

Following closely behind Victor was Mike Gugliemlo, another HoHa. Completing the race in 30:55, Mike was 10th overall and third in the 30-39 age group, which he joked was due to him being one of the youngest in that category.

For the women, Angela Colarusso clearly deserves some recognition. Placing fourth of all of the female competitors, she completed the race in 33:53.4. And rumor has it that this HoHa had already raced in New York City within hours of the HoHa Classic start.

Caroline Lennon, my sister-in-law, was another of the Classic's top females. Hailing from Philadelphia, Lennon certainly didn't have the home-court advantage of her HoHa competitors. Nonetheless, she was the 11th female finisher and second in her age group. Her time was 36:06. Caroline said she was surprised to have performed so well in the 5-mile-race, because she had been focusing her training on running longer distances at a slower pace.

Of course, I would be remiss to leave out the name of the race's overall winner, which was Ned Cunningham. He averaged 5:24/mile on the humid morning of the HoHa Classic. Way to go, Ned!

I am still trying to find the name of the race's first female finisher. If anyone can help me out here, I would appreciate it.

Congratulations to everyone who ran the HoHa Classic! Your competitiveness inspired me to keep moving all the way to the finish—and even speed up a few times.

Visit this address to learn how other harriers performed during the 2015 HoHa Classic.

Encouragement & the HoHa Classic

For the past few weeks, I had been contemplating whether to enter the HoHa Classic—a five-mile race and fundraiser for the Jubilee Center, sponsored by the Hoboken Harriers. (More on the race later.)

Among the many reasons this particular race had been on my mind is that I am a former HoHa.

While I was living in Hoboken, I trained several times a week with the diligent, talented, gregarious and generous (the HoHas raise money for various charitable organizations year-round) members of this running club. During our runs, my fellow HoHas drove me to push harder than the day before. (In fact, I think the club's members deserve a lot of credit for my 5k PR—which I ran at age 30).  More importantly, the HoHas provided me with companionship, and some of them have continued to be great friends to me. Unfortunately, I have not gotten to see these friends much lately, which takes me to why I really wanted to do this race: to reconnect with as many HoHas as possible.

Having heard all of this, I am sure you are wondering why the heck I would even question participating in the HoHa Classic, which begins this Sunday (Mother's Day) at 10 am in Hoboken, by the way. (Registration starts at 8 am at Pier A. See more details by clicking on the link above or just "Google" the race.)

Now back to why I had hesitated. For one thing, I resprained my left ankle and it's still bothering me. Fortunately the pain has subsided since I initially toppled on a trail (three Sundays ago). The second thing is I am out of shape; several ankle injuries have forced me to take tons of time off from running and even swimming. Having been a pretty good runner for most of my life, it is tough for me to enter a race knowing that I may be running my personal worst time for a 5-miler.

Ultimately, I decided to register for the competition anyway, thanks in part to a fast woman who gave me a little encouragement during my run on Thursday.

The Encouragement

I had just completed mile three of five, when I heard something (which turned out to be someone) that sounded like a bicycle approaching me. I looked over my left shoulder; a surging woman was a couple of strides away from passing me. At first, I sped up; in my mind, I was my former super-fit and competitive self, who never let anyone pass me—at least not without a good fight.

I maintained my lead for what probably was only three or four strides. After she passed me, I accelerated to minimize the space between us. I kept my face within a foot of her back, hoping to be able to use her to block the wind—Tour de France style. But I couldn't continue to match her pace. When she noticed I was falling back, she yelled: "Come on, you can do it. I know you can". Those words of encouragement coming from a fellow runner, who clearly shared my passion for competitive running, made me think, "yea, I CAN do it".

And I did do it—meaning I stayed with the woman for a little longer. While I was disappointed to not have been able to finish my workout with her, I felt happy to have run kind of fast for at least a half mile. I also enjoyed the camaraderie between us.

As it turned out, I ran faster when I was bustling alongside that motivational speaker of a woman than I did during the rest of my run. According to my Garmin watch, mile four was by far my fastest mile of that workout; it was also the fastest outdoor mile I have done since I returned to running in November of last year. Having accomplished this made me realize that getting back to my old race pace is not going to take me as long as I had been thinking.

It was this experience that inspired me to ultimately type my name—and credit card number—into the 2015 HoHa Classic race registration page on Friday.

I am looking forward to the race, even though I won't be running 7-minute-miles like I have in the past on this course.

I hope you all will join me in this urban, Hudson River-following and surprisingly hilly race!