Did this race last year and went out too hard and had a miserable last 7 miles. Was determined not to repeat that fiasco again. I've been doing more tempo and speed work and running well (thanks to RP's expert guidance!), so I was anxious to see what I could do. Wasn't quite sure how to pace it, as I wanted to leave it all there but also not die. Went out aiming for 8:20's and was mostly there. Had a random fast mile 5, not sure why. Kept an eye on pace and RPE, tried to feel how things were feeling. Wanted to build but also wanted to finish strong.

Had a couple of mental moments of weakness. Around mile 7-ish I was doing math of how I could just run the same speed for the rest of the race and PR, so just hold steady -- I can do this. Then I didn't want to run anymore, blech. So I ate two Honey Stinger Chews, as when I get negative my attitude often improves with a few calories. That did the trick for a bit.

During the super-duper-short hill up to the road, Leann passed me. Love her, but all I thought was, "Bitch!! She said she was going to run 8:45's!!! 8:45's, my ass!!! Jeff is gonna be mad at her this afternoon!!" And then I thought I should stay with her, but also needed to run my own race. We had a false flat there too and my mind was in the stinker. Ugh, I was NOT going to be able to build anything in the last 5K. Ate my other two Honey Stingers and aimed to get to work.

"Pull the trigger slowly. Build into the 5K. See what's in the tank." I kept telling myself these things. And I tried to build to see what was there. Mile 11 was an 8:06, good. Then it was into the Disneyland-switchback-mindfuck portion of the race. Mental grind. Hang on. Push to the end. Push to the end. You've got this. Mile 12 was 8:06. Good. One more mile. Well, 1.2 miles as I was about .1 behind the mile markers, ugh. Hang on. Less than 10 minutes. You can do anything for 10 minutes. Tried to do math to see if I had the PR (did a lot of math the last 3-4 miles) -- I couldn't figure it out. Part of me thought I could do a 10:00 mile and still PR, part of me thought if I didn't do an 8:15 or better I was screwed. Held on, never saw mile marker 13, but then glory!!! The end came before the 13.22 I was expecting (I clocked 13.14). Bam!!! Did it!! Two-minute PR.

I've never run a race w/o my watch and sometimes I'm curious if it holds me back. Looking at my last 3 miles, I obviously had more in the tank. My two slower miles should have been faster. I could probably find a few more seconds earlier on too. Still, it was fun to run hard and finish strong.

Grabbed drinks and food and looked for Steve, Ryan, and Leann. I was on a time crunch. Ryan was leaving me if I wasn't in at a 1:45. Steve was giving me until 1:46. Shit, I did a 1:47 and where was everybody???!!! Looked around quickly and did not find people. We were dumb and didn't have a specific meeting plan, so I started hoofing it to the cars because I was NOT going be the one to make Ryan late for his own wedding. I haa a very brisk walk to the car, and I think it really helped my recovery. No one was there, so I ended up waiting around, but kept moving for the most part. Finally hooked up with everyone, back to Marymoor...

Home and took a quick shower then got a pedicure for the night's school auction. Then got a haircut and style for the auction. Went straight from haircut to daughter's soccer game where she was kicking some major soccer ass. Second half of the game, she fell and broke her arm, so instead of the auction we spent the evening in the ER. Sad. But my toes are still pretty and my daughter will heal!! (And we likely saved a shit-ton of money not going to the auction... which we will, instead, spend on medical bills, ha!)


Me and my brain... need to believe in myself more! Find the scary places and stay there!


The 15-minute start delay was a drag. And I prefer running from Issy to Redmond vs. Redmond to Issy. Wish we could run a bigger loop around Marymoor or Lake Samm Park instead of Disneyland-snake-line to add distance. Still, I'd run it again as it's in my back yard and a nice race.