I think my training has been paying off! For the first 1 1/2 mile to the base of the dam, I kept checking my pace and couldn't believe it. I have never been able to break the 10:00 mile barrier in ANY run event, and I was seeing 9:30-9:40--and not feeling like I was going too hard! Ran with Cathy pretty much to the base of the dam, where she turned around, then ran with Melissa most of the rest of the way. At the top of the dam, Julia and the boys were cheering us on and gave me high fives! Tried to pick up the cadence on the way down the back side, and keep the pace high through the turn around and back to the base of the back side of the dam. Working my way up the back side hurt a bit. By the time I got to the top, I thought I might puke, but Julia and the boys were there again, cheering me on, and I didn't think puking in front of the kids would be a good idea, so I kept going. Picked up the cadence again on the way down the front side, and made the bike path turn off. There were still a couple more good steep climbs on the way back in, but I managed a pretty strong pace for the last ~1.2 miles. According to my GPS, I managed an average pace of 9:50 even with the hills! In a 10K! Rock on! :)

Nada--this was a fantastic race for me.

Drank a couple cups of accelerade, chatted with the crew for a few minutes, then ran another 35 minutes at a nice easy pace.


I probably need to do more speed work, but I am very happy with this race.


This is a great race to keep motivated in the winter. It was fantastic seeing everyone out there!