As my friend and I were standing at the starting line, it was hard to tell when the start actually was. Someone was saying something behind the crowd, and then people started yelling, "Go, go!" So I hit start on the watch and we took off. I love the start of the race when it feels easy to go fast before the reality of race pace takes over.

As we were at the start, it was easy to count the number of runners that were ahead. I counted something like nine. I was expecting people to catch up from behind and pass, but no one really did, and I hoped it would stay that way. As we headed toward the first bend, we passed a girl <10, I told my friend she was now the 1st placed female (it turns out that the girl was 8 y/o and placed 2nd female with a 25:xx! Crazy!).

Anyhow, because I was able to be chatty I realized I could pick up my pace, and as I did that, my friend said I could go on ahead. I ran by myself for pretty much the rest of the race.

The course is over a number of rolling hills, so this is a difficult place to set a PR. The first few hills weren't bad, and I didn't have to slow that much. I ticked off the first mile in 7:07, and the second in 6:57. The third is mostly uphill, with a short, steep hill followed by a longer shallower incline. It's the shallow incline that really kills you. I'm running up the incline, looking at my watch, and seeing numbers like: 7:30 and 7:50, and thinking, "Aaaaaagh! Too slow! I want that sub-21!" The third mile ended up being 7:18. A flat course would have seen me take 30-ish seconds off.

I passed a couple runners in the 3rd mile, and so I knew I was in the top 10, but not entirely sure of my place. As I was heading toward the home stretch, the runner in front of me stopped, and started walking. He looked back at me, and saw that he probably had his place locked up, anyway. I yelled at him to keep running. :p I got to the home stretch and sprinted it out, and almost lost it as I rounded the corner to the timing mats.

I was tired, but not totally smashed after the finish (which means I could have finished harder). I hung out at the line, and my friend I had started with came across as the 1st place female this year in a 23:09. We were all shocked when the little girl crossed the line to be the 2nd place female. "Whoa, did you see that? I think she got 2nd!"

I hung out at the line and cheered everyone in. As the times were posted, I saw that I ran a 21:36, which is a PR (technically)! I waited around for the awards ceremony to see if I had placed in my age group. I knew that I had placed 6th overall, but I wasn't sure who was in what age group. As they called out the 3rd place, and it wasn't me, I thought for sure I was out of it. They didn't call me for 2nd place either, and my hopes pretty much died. I was so surprised when they called me for 1st in the 30-39 AG! I felt like I had won the thing! It was so cool!

I hung out until everything was all done. Then I hooked up with some friends and we went out for an hour group ride. Hey, have to honor the training schedule even if there's a race, right?