I’d heard about this race for a few months now, and knew I wanted to do it; it was just a matter of what the weather would be like on January 10th. The race had been organized by members of the club, and existed almost solely to serve the purpose of allowing two runners to complete their elusive 169th town. For both men, Morris was the only town left on their list, and it didn’t have a race of its own (yet), so one was put on, and it’s safe to say the 169 Towns turnout was strong.

The race was a four-miler, rather than the standard 5K I’d been getting used to. Conditions at the start were fairly cold and somewhat rainy, but things cleared up and weren’t too bad for the bulk of the race, which was an out and back on the roads of Morris, with “absolutely no traffic control,” we were warned; there was also absolutely no traffic.

I ran alongside a few guys whose pace I matched, and passed one guy in particular on each uphill, only to be passed by him again on each downhill. He ended up finishing about 30 seconds ahead of me, and I felt pretty spent, as I always do, at the end. It was a good race, though between the added distance, the hills, and the cold, I didn’t feel particularly fast. Ten percent down, ninety left to go!

Morris Marsh Point 4 Miler | 4M | 1/10/16 | 30:36 | 17/169