Shoreline Shuffle - Continued

Last week I made a quick post about the shoreline shuffle with information on entry and other brief information regarding the race.  On Saturday I ran the race with few fellow Trail Hawks, and had a blast!  It's a three mile course, part of which runs along the shoreline of Clinton lake, I'm not sure if there will be a posted course before the race, so I'll try not to divulge too much now.   

Bottom line is:  I'm upset I won't be able to run this race.  This will give new and old runners a good time to really "open up" and go as fast as possible on some fairly technical trails.  Here are my general thoughts on the course:

• This is NOT a PR course.  In fact, I would say if you have a good running day, you'll be about 4 minutes off of your 5K PR.
• In some sections you can totally open up and run fast.  In fact for one mile of the course, I would expect some times that are within :30 to 1:00 of road race paces.
• In other sections, you have to slow down.  In another 1 mile section, paces will be considerably slower than road paces.  For example, my PR for a road 5k hovers just about 20:00 (6:26 pace).  I would expect to run this section at about 8:30 or 9:00 pace on a good day!
  
• There's a surprise at the end.  I won't say whether it's pleasant or unpleasant, but from a course design perspective, it's quite cool.
• This course provides great views.  There will be views of the lake ranging from on a cliff above the lake, to running on the beach along side the lake.  In between, you'll be treated to single-track trails through eastern-Kansas forests.
  

GOOD LUCK!