On Sunday, I ran the Pre-Skagway 10-Miler which is held every year as a kind of final test two weeks before the Klondike Road Relay. Fittingly, the 10-Miler is hilly and tough like many sections of the road relay. In particular, there are a couple of big hills on the Miles Canyon Road, then there is a long section of trail, dirt and gravel along the Chadburn Lake Road including quite a big hill at the end before you come back into Riverdale.
I was pretty thrilled with my time of 1:00:46. I think my best time ever on this course is only in the 58 min range. I have never really thought much about the idea of “racing yourself into shape”. I believe in coming into racing season ready and that this principle applies to folks who are not well prepared. I guess “not well-prepared” describes me this year. It seems all the races at the Canadian Orienteering Champs have done me some good. This is a step up from the 36:30 10k I ran a month ago. My goal of running 6 min mile pace for my 12 mile leg of the road relay is now looking quite doable.
I hope I can deliver as I am on quite a competitive team. This is the first time in ages that most of the fastest Yukon men are on the same team so we are hoping to challenge the top Alaskan teams. If the results from the 10-miler are any indication, we are looking good. The top 5 are all on our team (Ray Sabo shows as a DSQ in the results for taking a wrong turn which probably saved him 30 secs. Still his 57:20 is very strong).
