I had doen a long ride day before, but legs felt good and decided this was last long(er) run before HIM in a few weeks and wouldn't hold a lot back. Even though there were only 200+ runners, the start was congested because we went ont a sidewalk after first 1/4 mile. Ran with a friend and we were keeping steady pace. I got nervous when I saw the 1 mile mark and we were at 8 minutes. I thought I would keep pace to 8:30 or around there. It felt good though so kept same pace. Kept thinking when the wall would hit and each mile the pace still felt pretty good. There were a few runners in front of us around the same pace and that helped. At around mile 6 my pacing partner decided to pick it up. He is much faster so I told him to have at it. Took a gel around mile 6 as well. I didn't slow down though and just kept pace. Passed a young guy around 12-13 years old. He was hurting around mile 7. I told him to run with me for a while and help me finish under 1:20:00. We didn't talk much, but it was good to run with someone, at this point folks were pretty spread out. He told me around mile 8 he was stopping and I could tell he was breathing heavy so I didn't talk him out of it. Last two miles were tough and getting a little warmer as we headed east into the sun. I was just shocked that I had kept pace and now I was determined to finish strong. With about a mile left the kid was behind me and then next to me. I smiled and told him great job. I saw the finish about .5 mile ahead and picked it up. Passed two people and then there was about 100 yards to finish. Guy I passed really kicked it in high gear and I let it go. Then the kid comes sprinting past and I had to try now. One of my water bottles ejected into the air and I wasn't going to slow down for it. Sure enough kid beat me and won his division:) Nice guy found me after and handed me my water bottle.

Really gave it all I had and I have never come close to running under 8 minute pace before for anything past 4-5 miles. It just all came together for me. Great confidence for HIM race coming up in a few weeks as run is definately my weak discipline.

Maybe not wear the fuel belt. Didn't slow me down, but lost a bottle running down the finsh area. Also, check the bib # with my name on it. They gave me wrong bib and chip which caused confusion later on. Nice guy from Accuchip fixed it later on though.

Friend went for cool down run and I wanted nothing to do with that. I sat there for about 15 minutes and regained my composure:) Wondered to awards area and grabbed a few oranges and granole bar and a bottle of water.


Not much. I biked 50 miles day before, but legs felt good whole time.


Fun race and I will be sure to do it again. Love the smaller races and this one had plenty of volunteers and water stations about every 1.5 miles.