I refuse to call this a race. I have bombed another one and seem to be stuck in tempo mode. I woke up to below freezing temps and lovely 22mph north wind. I'll make this brief. I woke up, ate two cookies and a cup of coffee and drove downtown. I warmed up 1.85 miles with Eddy. The four mile race started and immediately I realized my right shoe was untied. It felt loose and not right but my hands were so cold there was no way I could have stopped and tied it so I ran on. Whoever was supposed to point the right way at the trick part crossing the river a few times evidently abandoned his post, because my group got it all wrong and finally crossed a street with no traffic control to get back down on the path. From talking to folks afterward, there were multiple different versions run of the course. I ended up in a disheartened fourth place with a worse time then last year. 4.04 in 27:41(6:51 pace). My legs were tight and tired. I went in, ate a doughnut, drank some water, found my husband and son, and then jogged .85 miles and lined up for the mile. I ran it in 6:23 and was the first woman to cross the line, but that is a terrible time for me. Next I ate a hamburger. Then I picked up a few medals for winning my age group and the mile, and then we went home. I just ate two more cookies. Nick did a good job running the mile! Overall I'm going to call it a good tempo workout and move on. I plan to run more this evening to offset all the crap I'm eating today. I'm going to keep my eyes on the goal--Houston--and I should actually be tapered and rested for that one. | 