I decided to push out of my comfort zone a little and lead this race from start to finish (if possible.) I prefer to start in the back a little and work my way up but in addition to getting out of my comfort zone, the 4,8 and 12k were all starting at once and I didn't want to get stuck on the single track portions.

So I lined up behind some of our (VERY) fast guys but in front of all the women.

They did a 10 second countdown and we were off!

The first portion was a wide gravel track that was slightly downhill. I pushed hard here, right from the get-go to establish a solid effort. We hit the first corner and I tried not the decelerate at all. As we approached our first hill I tried to stay very even effort wise. I increased cadence a little and motored up the hill, passing a couple of the younger guys. We had one more short downhill and then it was a pretty steady up, although not steep. This is where I feel I run most efficient and I pushed as hard as I could, putting some distance between me and some of the others. While I refused to look back at any point in this race, I could hear the breathing and I used that as my motivation. Which, kind of sounds weird haha.

As we neared the rim trail of the ravine we broke out into the sun for just a minute and I was instantly REALLY hot. We have been experiencing a bit of a heat wave here in Seattle and it was still about 80 degrees. My number was pinned to my shirt so I didn't have the option to take my shirt off. Luckily we dipped back down into the forest a few seconds later where it was slightly cooler and certainly less exposed to the direct sun. We made a turn onto the wider trail and made a long descent. I have been working on my descending and felt I did quite well but I could hear a few taking advantage and closing the gap on me.

Just as I was able to see someone approaching in my peripheral, we made a hard turn uphill and I was able to leverage my strength and motor up. This was about the point in the race where I was starting to struggle to maintain the intensity but it was also the most important time to stay committed and focused.

I dug in and just kept moving my legs. I could have sworn I heard someone approaching so I even accelerated up and over the hill and through the next descent.

We descended a very narrow trail that was quite overgrown. I ducked a blackberry bush the broke out into an open field before turning down onto the one asphalt section. This was only about 50' long and then we turned back onto the gravel for the finish.

Up to this point I felt as though I could be overtaken at any point and was pretty much running scared. Again, I didn't allow myself to look back at all. I pushed hard through the finish and broke the tape for the overall women's win.

Only then did I look back and realize there wasn't another woman for another 20-30 seconds.

I don't love to do it but the run scared method seems to really push the pace :)

Keep working on the downhill running

Ran a little, ate a hot dog, ran some more, ate some watermelon, cheered some finishers on and went to the award ceremony


Still working on downhill running, no taper (but this was like, a D race) maybe run in just sports bra for that kind of heat (place bib on shorts instead)