Haha...As you can see from the crazy distance-the dreaded nightmare happened and I got lost on the course today..Details below...
Plan today was to not worry about time and just run however my body was feeling..(I have been sick all week with a terrible cough/cold/flu so I didn't have big expectations). I also knew going in that my time would be slow considering 80% of this course is in the dirt and hills. There was also 750 ft feet of elevation change-although the start and finish are at the same spot. (Picture the desert-brown dirt and pinon trees-that is where this course was-lol) Got to the starting line and it was a super small race-maybe 100 people-split between a 5k and 10k.. Gun went off and my first split was 6:35...I was ahead at the mile but 2 guys followed closely behind. 2 mile split was 6:56, at this point the guy behind me threw in a surge to run side by side with me and he stayed that way for a minute and then completely died off. On the course there are signs with arrows saying where to go and around the 2.5 mile mark there was a sign saying to turn right and I did-but I turned right onto the road-not the dirt trail... There was a lady directing there-and she didn't even say anything to me!... Boo...Anyway-I ran on my merry way and after going about .4 on the road I looked back to see where the guy was and he was no where in sight. Crap! He must have really died or I must have missed a turn-I decided on the latter and turned around and ran .4 back and realized I was supposed to go on the trail instead of the road. I was bummed-but oh well what could I do?...Maybe I can start picking people off I thought...This part of the course was a trail going up and down hills and making quite a few turns. Slowly but surely I started picking people off. 1 girl, then two, then 3, then about a half mile before the finish I passsed the 4th or 5th girl. I had no clue if there were any other girls ahead of me...Anyway, I kicked it in a little for the last .92 which was downhill-but my splits for miles 3-7 were pathetic...7:37, 7:04, 7:58, 7:02 and 5:49 for .92. lol..At least I was still the first girl..(not much competition in Farmington as you can see) Anyway-they gave me a 50 visa gift card and I won a great harvest bread basket...Not too shabby...My body did feel extremely tired today-but at least the coughing waited until after the race to start..I'm hoping next week I can have more "quality miles" and get down to business.. Fingers crossed it will be a much better week...
Here's to no more getting lost...lol
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