I had a really hard time with the first mile of this race. First of all, my legs cooled all the way down from my warmup, and I was not only freesing for the first mile, but my cold legs just wouldn't respond. I tried to force them to move, but they started to give ominous pre-cramping twinges, so I had to just wait to warm back up. I pushed it a bit hard for the first uphill mile, running when I should have walked, with the end result that my guts cramped. I might have gained an extra minute or two by running instead of walking fast in places, but I spent it all in the port-a-john at the top of the hill :(

Despite the rough start, I came back strong after that first mile, and passed a lot of runners who I never saw again. In the last mile, I saw some of my running buddies -- if the race had been half a mile longer, I would have caught and passed them. In retrospect, I could have given it a bit more in the second half of the race -- I was ready to run all day, once I warmed up my poor legs!

I would have ignored the pre-race talk in favor of keeping warmed-up. I also would have not pushed it so hard in the first mile, and been more conscious of what I was eating the day before the race, and maybe that would have avoided my intestinal issues.

Walked around until my HR chilled back out, and put my winter coat back on. Post-race food was AWESOME -- chicken soup, bagels, and beer (thank you, hashers!)

I like to stick around for post-race awards, because it makes me a happy lady. This time, I was shocked to hear my name called! Of 7 women in my AG, I finished 3rd. However, the two women ahead of me were the top 2 overall women, so I took home the award for being 1st in my AG! It's the first time I ever took home some hardware, and I was really psyched for it :)


Cold, poor judgment, and intestinal distress. Although I was inordinately pleased to have taken home a medal, I was a bit frustrated with some of my decisions and felt like I could have run a stronger race.