The plan wasn't to actually 'race' this race, just take it at a medium pace as not to overdo it and get injured. I'm working on a HM plan and do not want to do something wrong or stupid and get hurt and be unable to do the HM in a few months.

Last month this race had over 600 participants, so I positioned myself about the same place, landmark-wise where I was previously. Whooops! There were fewer people for this race (#2 in the series, 1 per month for Jan, Feb, Mar), so I was back a little farther than I would've liked, but I didn't stress over it since 1)I'm not a speedster anyway and 2)I wasn't super worried about my time today. Also told my competitive side not to find anyone like the 'pink girl' and her crew from last race and was trying not to look around at people too much. Well, easier said than done, especially being there alone. People watching ensued and sure enough, I spotted two girls in red bandanas wearing bright red headbands with red feather beelie-boppers. Oh my. I can't let myself be beaten by red feathery beelie-boppers! "No!" I sternly told myself, "ignore them. Stick to your plan." Kind of like telling my dogs, "Leave it", LOL. "Fine", myself replied, "I'll try to ignore them."

The race started and so did the snow, which made me happy; love running in the snow! It looked so pretty, all the brightly-clad runners snaking their way up the hill in the falling snow. I noticed the red BBs were ahead of me, but not too terribly far. I tried to keep at a nice, not-pushing it pace and was succeeding. Going up the hill to the cemetary I passed one of the red BBs just naturally. I didn't push to pass her, I swear. She slowed down. "Cool", I thought. "One down by natural attrition". I could still see the other one relatively close ahead but I tried to keep my pace the same. It was cold and the wind was brutal at points, and it snowed the duration of the race which was great except when it occasionally stung when the wind whipped it into our faces. Thank heavens for a jacket I could zip or unzip as the wind and chill demanded.

Eventually, though, I just felt good and I picked up the pace a little. Coming back down the cemetary hill, I see that I've gained on the other red BB a bit. Hmmm, too close not to chase down even though that was against my own 'rule' for the day. I let gravity take me down the hill quickly, thinking of Yanti's description of how she runs down hills and I easily caught and overtook red BB (and a few others). Less than a mile to go, cool. Just keep a decent pace, don't go bonkers.

Coming in the final stretch I resisted the urge to sprint to the finish and instead just kept plugging away steadily. OK, truth be told I may have picked it up a little bit, but still didn't sprint. Finished feeling strong and good. Removed my chip and bib tag and headed up to the track for my mile warm-down.

Not seed myself back so far. Try harder at keeping my competitive spirit at bay. Scratch that last part for any future races; it's applicable to this race only! :)

1 mile around the track, then headed in for the best part of the race, the homemade chicken corn noodle soup!! Mmmm, so good, especially on a day like today. Timing worked out great: with my warm-down, eating soup and walking around a little bit, I didn't have very long to wait for the raffle to begin.


Speed was not a factor today since I wasn't racing for time, just getting the miles in I needed for my HM plan.