Started very fast...got caught up in the excitement of a beautiful day. First mile = 7:55!!!!! Settled down a bit after that and had to deal with the hills. Ran them as hard as possible but my HR was spiking a bit so I had to slow down at about four spots on the course.

Hit the 5K mark at 26:00 so I knew my goal of 55:49 (8:59 pace) would be obtainable. I just needed to focus on strides and the hills. At the 2 mile mark, I woman passed me and said "Thanks for the carrot" as she passed me. This was my first race in a Donkey jersey. She returned the favor by providing nice pace booty for a while. At the 5K mark, another woman asked about the time as hse had no watch. I let her know the time and the pace. We talked about starting too fast, which we both did, and then we hit the big hill and she moved ahead of me. She finished about a minute ahead of me and we chatted a bit after the race. This race is fairly small, but very well organized and many nice people!

Another PR for me, by 2:03. Previous 10K best = 56:14.

Side note: as it was my first race with the Tri Donkai jersey (tech shirt actually), I was not used to getting strange looks. Some people smiled, a lot of people stared. I was warming up and was running toward two 20-something girls. They were obviously looking at my shirt and when I got next to them one said "Really?" like I was stupid for wearing that shirt. I just smiled and kept running.

Not much, just continue to get better on the hills.

Walked around with very cold water, bananas, bagels and Oreos. Decided to leave before the awards (not that I was going to get one) to get home in time for the start of the Packer game.


The hilly course.


Solid four on the race rating. Nice, small, organized race.