I signed up for the Grand Prix series to inject a little speed into my routine. A distance runner like myself rarely races something this short! It hurts like a beeeeoooootch in case you were wondering.

I haven't done any speed work in the last 6+ months (shame!) so this race was an absolute baseline and needs to be looked at in that context.

This race draws a ton of high school and college track/xc teams. I lined up near the MOP both because these types tend to start out way too fast and because they are just fast in general. I don't need to be drug into some high school freshman's epic 1 blowup halfway through a 2 miles race.

The gun went of and we took off, much more quickly than the start of most races. I picked a nice line on the inside and focused on stead pacing. I was thinking about 6:20 even laps would be good but I really had no idea where all my mountain/trail and general aerobic running might land me with no speed.

Just as we made the first tight hairpin turn it started pouring. Traction was a challenge and there were HUGE puddles. I didn't even try and avoid them as it wasn't worth it. My flats were already soaked.

I did get into a nice comfortable hard rhythm and came through the first mile at 6:19. Sweet, one second faster than I had thought I would be at. A second is a second! Also, I felt really relaxed so I figured I could continue at this pace then hammer it for the last quarter or so.


Unfortunately as I was thinking this the wind picked up. I felt like I was moving backward. I was not in a pack so I had to fight the wind alone. I navigated the slippery turns, ran through what seemed to be a moat by now and tried to pick it up on the straightaway.

I fellow club mate came up next to me in a pack of a couple other guys, he said, "c'mon lets go!" and I tried hard to get into the pack but I had exerted too much when I was running solo and I had to let them go.

I came into the final stretch to complete the race in 12:35. Slow, but the good news was I shaved a little off that last lap despite the wind battle.

Now, time to start getting some quality workouts into my schedule. I'm not terribly unhappy with the baseline but I know that if I want to be "fast", those speed sessions are key. I mean, duh, of course they are. But a girl can dream, no?


I haven't done any speed work so this race was an absolute baseline. Seeing as how I ran approximately 20 seconds slower in a two mile race than I do in a 5K I would say I have some work to do!

Long cool down with a friend and then BEER!!!


No speed-work, some weather, could have been more conservative when running solo then capitalized on the pack