I felt great during this run. My coach advised me to hold back at the beginning and to try to negative split the race, which I did. The first 6 miles I did it in 58:12 and the last 6.1 miles were in 56:17. The last 5K was in 27:33 which, in a stand alone 5K, would have been a major PR for me. Prior best 5K performace was 29:58 and that was in a tri this past May.

My HR was low during this run. Have no idea why- I thought I was going too fast at the beginning, but my effort and my HR said I wasn't so I went with it. I noticed that I really gained on people on the hills, and I tried to really open up my stride and pick up free speed and recovery on the down hills. I would also pick out people and slowly reel them in one at a time. I had the best luck doing this during the last 6 miles of the race. I still can't believe how good I felt. The only thing I did differently was that I took a gel flask rather than individual gels and I took gel at each aid station- less than a full shot, but maybe about a half a shot. So I did gel more often, but less at each time. That seemed to work really well with my stomach and gave me the energy I needed there at the end. I really felt great when I finished. I managed to bust out my fastest mile on the last mile. Whoop Whoop! PRed by 10:59. Prior half mary was 2:15:13 and that was on a flat course at the beach in 40 degree weather. This was hilly and I still managed to knock off almost 11 minutes. Those horrible track workouts and hill repeats really do work!

My run fitness has improved so much this year. Thanks Katie! I couldn't have done it without your help!

Not one thing.

Walked around and got some food- said hi to some friends. My next door neighbor is a nurse and she was working the finish line med help.


Genetics


This race was not well organized. From packet pick up to finish I was very disappointed. First of all, they ran out of t-shirts, even for those who preregistered. Then, a group of people who registered online (I was one of those)didn't have their info transferred to pick up. So I had a number with a hand written name, no t-shirt, and was told my t-shirt would be in in a month and I could drive to one of the running stores to pick it up. And it's not even long sleeve!

Then, on race morning, no one talked before the race started. We were all there at the starting line and no announcement was made. The gun just went off. Took a lot of people by surprise. Many didn't even have their sweats off yet. The aid stations were plentiful but were ill placed. We would go over 2 miles with nothing and then in the next 2 mile segment there would be 4 stations.I think I will be writing a letter..