Took off running and tried to fall into a good rhythm of pace and stride. I didn't know what kind of hill the race would climb so I didn't want to hit the gas too hard too early. As we turned to go around the lake, we transitioned from road to trail and my pace improved. I'm much smoother and fluid running on trails than road.

We hit the first hill and people started walking. It wasn't that big of a hill, so I just lowered my hips and powered up it. (Oh look a hill. Let's run up it!) Then we hit the big hill that we had to climb. At that point, I had to actually walk it for a bit.

This climb was to the top of the island and the front-runners were on their way back. I was looking, anxiously, to see where Trixie was going to be placing herself. I counted about 7 or 8 guys and then here came Trixie. She was freaking leading the women. I yelled at her "1st Female Trix. Go Get It!"

After the turnaround at the top, I just turned my legs loose on the downhill. I actually touched a 5:30/mile pace on the downhill (told you it was steep).

One of the advantages of getting lost before-hand meant that I had seen the rest of the course and knew what to expect in terms of hills and terrain.

As I hit the out/back section that led to the finish, I looked at my watch and saw that I had a shot at a sub-27. With that, I found another gear. I dropped my pace from 8:30 to 7:30. I don't know where I found it but there it was.

As I entered the last 100yds, Trix popped up at the finish to cheer me in. I saw the clock turn from 26:59 to 27:00 when I was about 10 yards away. :( If the race had been chipped, I probably would have been sub-27 b/c it took me 10-15 seconds to cross the line at the start.

Still, even at 27:04, this is an OFFICIAL PR for me at the 5k distance. I think I was faster at Jingle Bell but the course was messed up there.

Nothing.

Walked around and asked Trixie how she did, since she was crushing the women's field at the turn around. 1st place. It didn't surprise me.

This set my baseline for this week's Midnight 5k along the Dunedin Causeway. Flat with the only climb being the bridge.


10k up/back on a ski slope. 4.5mi tempo run at the beach. 5k up and down a redwood forest mountain. :)


This was a great race with a small running group in San Fran. The best part was watching Trixie get her 1st place women's ribbon. The 2nd place woman was a club regular and the look on her face of "who IS this new person" was priceless. :) Of course, when Trix explained that she originally came to run Western States, everyone was ga-ga over finding out more about that.

This was a lot of fun for a last-minute idea. It was nice to find a short race to run just for fun.