I was little tired going into this but decided to go according to plan, longish warm up and solid tempo run. I got up, ate a piece of peanut butter toast, drank some coffee, then drove to Goddard. The race had a way bigger turnout than expected! It was pretty warm and muggy, and the South wind was beginning to pick up. About and hour before the race me and Eddy met up and slowly jogged 4.75 miles. I then choked down half a gu and some water and then went to the starting line. By now the south wind was significant and I knew it would cause troubles with my times but was determined to at least run a good effort and not cross the line with a bunch of gas in the tank. The race ended up starting about 20 minutes late, which was too much time for me to look around and start getting psyched out. Eddy was having the same problem. The first place girl(fastest girl in Wichita) was there with her friends and she looked so amazingly in shape, 6-pack and all. Eddy said he could feel the energy coming off of them. I tried to be brave and told Eddy it was okay, that WE were fast too and could give them a run for their money. Anyways I saw all these skinny, muscular girls that looked serious and ugly thoughts reared in my head about looking like a marshmellow next to them but I finally squelched the thoughts and got my head straight. My Garmin freaked out and didn't split the miles or show my pace or anything, just elapsed time so I don't have splits. I glanced at it at a few of the mile markers. Okay so the race finally starts and I try really hard not to go out too fast and just relax into a good rythm. The first place woman just tears out of there and she is gone. I looked at my watch and first mile was 6:45. Perfect. I just try and keep a good rythm and concentrate. The next two miles I pass a few men but am definitely second place woman. At the 3 mile marker my watch says 20:42 so still clipping off sub 7s. At 3 miles we turn north onto a straightway with the tailwind and a little rolling so I try to relax into my pace and keep a good turnover. Somewhere in here I swallow a little water and dump the rest on my head because I feel hot. As I near the turnaround I see the first place guy, and then not too far behind there is the first place woman. WOW she is flying and looking to chick the rest of the field(she did). I hit the turnaround heading south and here it is, the evil south wind, and it is stout today. I tried to relax and not struggle with it too much, just keep the same effort and turnover. I could glance at the people coming and got a handle on third place--she looked to be about 1-2 minutes back so I had a fairly comfortable gap. I knew I was losing time in a big way through here, though. The guy that has been running ahead of me about the entire race is losing ground and as I pull up next to him he laughingly says something about me breaking wind for him. I surge past him and he stays on my tail for quite a while. I wonder if my windbreaking was any good. I told myself as soon as we turned east out of the wind I needed to make up some time so we turned and I started to push my pace. At this point I was running all alone. Windbreaker guy had fallen back and I couldn't see anyone ahead of me. There was a lot of curving around through the neighborhood and I ran the entire rest of the race with nobody in sight. A few times I nervously thought I was lost and almost made a wrong turn but was stopped by a lonely volunteer on a corner(thanks!). When I came through the 9 mile mark in 1:03 something I knew I had lost my sub-7 average and pushed the last part of the race to try and get it back but was unsuccessful. Although I had truly hoped for a better time, I felt like my effort was decent today. I don't feel like I dogged it and gave up. I was very tired at the end and had to lean over and catch my breath. I kept my rythm in the wind and did not let it mentally defeat me. I was never passed. It was a solid workout on tired legs. I am not going to call this race a flop. I don't know if it was of certified length or had accurate mile markers, and my dang Garmin didn't measure it(I would have loved to have some better splits). I crossed the finish line, gave Eddy my tag so he could get my medal for me, then jogged to my car, hopped in, drove home and showered quickly, and went to church. I was only a tiny bit late for the worship service in the beginning but didn't miss communion, the offering, or the sermon. Next step, jog easy a few days and then run a stamina workout--probably on Wednesday? I am thinking a 2x4 at MP or a little faster.
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