I have to say that I really felt awesome from start to finish. I started off slow and in the back as usual. About .25 miles into the race, as the lead group (most of the people) were heading off into the distance, I got a chuckle out of the group I was with by telling everyone "don't worry, those people are just going to burn themselves out". Smiling and having fun is what it is all about.

They had water stops every mile. I passed the first one up, but then I think I grabbed a cup at the rest. I only really drank most of the cup at mile 2. The rest of them I took like 1-2 gulps to wet my mouth and that was it. I think I was pretty successful at running right through the stops without slowing my pace too much. Heck, I already run slow though. Hydration-wise, I felt really good, but it wasn't a long race either.

Right at the end of mile 3/beginning of mile 4, I knew there was a big hill because I hike in this park all the time. I was kind of dreading it because I have never run a hill like that before. I was also disturbed with myself that some negative thinking was trying to creep in, but I kept pushing those thoughts out of my head. And really, there is no need for dreading the hills because even though I don't train on them, I never have a tremendous amount of difficulty with them. Yes I am slow. Yes I breathe harder. But the hills around here are just not that big. This one lasted about 3/4 of a mile and I passed a couple of people going up. I really felt good.

After that, I fell in behind some guy who was going a really nice pace for me. At times he would slow down and I would almost pass him, but then he would speed up. Finally I just decided to stay behind him until the last mile and then make a decision about passing from there. I hope I didn't annoy him too badly as I was following about 10 feet behind him. I even said something to him about following him and he told me it was ok. Probably more annoying to him though was what I was doing. We were jogging on a multipurpose trail and passed a lot of people out for their morning walk. At this point of the race, I felt SO good and my heart and my mind were just smiling inside. Everytime I passed someone on the trail, I said a cheery "Good morning!". I couldn't help it. It was a good morning!

At the 5th mile marker I picked up the pace. Passed the guy I had been behind and never saw him again. I had not really been paying attention to my time other than to hit my lap button on my watch and make sure my total time on my watch corresponded to the race time that the volunteers were announcing at each mile. I had not looked to see what any of my mile splits were along the way. Good thing, because they were all over the place. So as I am toodling along the last mile, I realize that as I passed mile 5, the volunteer had said 49 mins and something. A thought crept in that I might be able to come in under 1 hour. Nah, that can't be possible.

As I rounded the corner to the finish line, I saw the clock said something like 59:20. OH MY GOSH! I can't believe how happy that made me and I sprinted to the end. The few people at the finish told me good job and all that. What they didn't know was how I was feeling inside. They didn't know that I had never ran that far ever and they didn't know that I had no expectations of breaking the 1 hour mark. I was so happy. I didn't need to share it with anyone. I was just content being happy!

Probably nothing. Maybe go just a little faster, earlier as I had quite a bit left at the end.

Walked around, drank water and ate fruit. I had seen that I had placed 4th in my age group when I checked in. What I didn't realize is that a women in my age group got one of the top three overall spots so that bumped me up to third place. I was VERY surprised when they announced my name at the awards ceremony.

Also, very very cool!!!! I talked to a woman in her 70's that came in about a minute behind me. She started running at age 42. She has run 40 marathons (her best being 3:18 in her late forties) and a 50 mile race. What an inspiration!


Being new at running. Middle aged.


I've only done a few races, but this has been my favorite so far. The course through the park was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The day was sunny and warm, but the majority of the race was shaded. It was SO nice not to have to run in the direct sun.