This course draws a fast field. And it's tough. It also appears my age group was fairly competitive. I came in 73 overall for women and over a third of the women that came in before me were in my age group. Some of them were looking STRONG out there too.

I'm a little under-trained on hills for this kind of course and I'd already done a 21 mile long run and a speed workout this week. I also did 7 hours on my feet at the running store yesterday so I really didn't have any idea what to expect. Although the first few miles felt quick but comfortable I was a little worried I had gone out too fast. Indeed the last miles were brutal. I also started developing a bad side stitch so I laid off my nutrition for the last six miles. It went away near the end, but I only had one mile to go and didn't think stopping for water that close to the end would be good. I knew I would make it at that point.

The last mile was tough. I had been running with a pack of women for several miles. A couple fell off earlier, but three of them managed to pull away from me and I had absolutely nothing left. It took everything I had just to maintain pace and not slow down. I did manage to maintain a fairly consistent pace right up until the end; I just didn't have the kick to keep up when they pulled away. BAH! I kept going as strong as I could, managed not to slow down, and came across the finish line with absolutely nothing left.

Get out on the course more and train hills (I only made it out a couple times). Taper. Keep working on my mental toughness. I'm pretty happy with how the day went though. For such a tough course and not having a taper or much hill training, I thought things went well. Sometime I would like to run this race when it's my A race.

Walked until I didn't feel like hurling or passing out. Then gingerly moved around until my quads didn't feel like they wanted to cramp anymore (I'm sure that will be fun in the morning - it's already started to be pretty fun). Then hung out with everyone for awhile and went to breakfast with Chris and Laura.


All stated above in "What would you do differently?"


Great course and a well organized race! I will definitely be back.