I figured if I was feeling good enough, I would go for a new PR. My goal was to beat a 7:30 pace, so I would need to finish under 23:15. I started toward the front of the pack and the race started FAST! I settled into a pace that I wasn't sure I could hold, but what the heck. Early on, a woman passed me but didn't disappear, so I decided to try to hang with her to pace myself. We both caught up to another woman by about the half-way point and the three of us ran together for a while. Eventually, my pacer and I passed the front woman. I was able to stay with her to the end, but I had NOTHING left and there was no thought of passing her. I almost slowed in the homestretch, but a spectator yelled "Keep going! Don't let her catch you! You need to kick it!" So I gave it whatever version of kick I could muster at that point and it was enough to stay ahead of the woman that we had passed. I finished third overall for women and well below my goal time! Very happy!

I could probably run a little better race if I weren't so sore coming into it, but this was definitely the best race I could possibly have run today, all factors considered.

I walked quite a bit, at a banana and some trail mix, and went to watch Charles finish. I took some pictures of him and then we both walked and stretched. I felt my hamstrings getting really sore, so I continued to try to walk and stretch as much as possible. I suddenly realized that I had not felt them at all during the race. Nice! I did go for a 30 min. massage in the afternoon to try to help my recovery from the past two weekends a bit.


I don't know if the soreness in my legs made any difference or not. I definitely gave it all that I had today. My cardio #'s were, if anything, a little low compared to what I should be able to sustain, so I just need to keep building my strength and speed so that I can get more out of my legs.


This was tons of fun, especially since Charles ran too. And I was especially happy and surprised to beat my goal time by 40 seconds.