Upper Marlboro, MD - And so, Gabriel, entering with four weeks of building a base from 18 miles to 48 miles/week, suffered a mild setback Monday entering this race, straining his left gastroc. It has been a frustrating voyage of calf strains lately, which are unsolved at the moment, but this left Gabriel with no running during the week, except for a couple of 8-min/mi treadmill runs, full of caution.
The Patuxent River Trail 10K was the first Trophy Series race of the season, and with payment already made, Gabriel was committed to race. He figured he could get through 10km of trails. However, he did not intend for some pretty good competition to line up.
At the start, in 35-degrees, hordes of runners raced for the muddy single-track. Gabriel was in about 7th at the turn and already feeling tapped out. At least his calf was feeling good and he set off to chase down the leaders, which was not as simple as anticipated. The two leaders had gotten away well, and Gabriel was hot on the chase.
At 4km, Gabriel made the catch on an uphill and decided to storm past and attempt a breakaway. However, his fitness could not match his courage, and he was caught by 5km and then passed by 6km, his race over. Gabriel maintained his pace, one leg in front of the other, but was unable to respond, except for one final push in the last 2km that ended as soon as it started.
Oh well, the expectations were not met, but with only four weeks of training since the most devastating injury of his career and still 5-7lbs over race weight, it was a step. He does not enjoy losing, but this is the path committed.
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