OUCH! Had to sit down for about 10 minutes to recover after that one. Way harder than it should have been to run that time. HUGE plate of chile relleno, beans, and enchiladas for lunch at Racines in Denver today? Check. Good idea? Nope. I was feeling that on the run. Stiff headwind the second half of the race?? Double check. Thank you mother nature! Awesome. I must be a much stronger person now. Yeah that would have been fine and dandy if character building were the goal of the evening...but the actual goal was to get closer to 17 minutes vs. farther away. Oh well. At least it wasn't a very competitive race so I got away with 3rd overall and a free rolfing session, but most importantly, a miniature candle in a jar! HURRAY! Candles are so amazing. I just love candles. Can never get enough candles in a jar. I got totally stuck in no-mans land on the 2nd half of the race with the entire 1.25 miles of head wind all to myself. It's kind of a tough situation for me, when the leaders are a minute ahead, and the people behind are 30-40 seconds back. Late in the race it didn't help my motivation at all to keep running faster knowing my place wasn't going to change at all. That extra motivation of having someone to chase or push me can go a long way in those painful stages sometimes. Instead, I was left to my own non-devices. I didn't have a watch on, so I didn't even have that to distract me or tell me how slow I was plodding along. Anyway, it was fun to get out. Met some new people. Felt momentarily way cooler than I really am for placing in the top 3 in a race. And got to play with the family at the park for a bit and hang out. Good times. | 