You get out what you put in

Wed- usual activities, some good, some bad; Th- finally hooked up with Tville team, talked with Tera, weights with team, some recognized me but didn't get a formal hello or welcome, ran with some of the JVrs after to Great Harvest, had some bread, then back along canal road, feel hot and heavy, but maybe due to weight-training, not sure if I'm ready for the half but will persevere, slightly sprained left ankle from B-ball tues but played great on Th on a team w/o dominant egos, I felt like the go-to guy, had some good lay-ups and handled the ball well; Fri rest

My 2nd half.  It was a great race.  Ran up the canyon for a warm-up, a little delay at the start for the 2000 runners to get set, got off well, just taking it easy and fairly soon saw Mel and Carol and paced behind them about 20 yards.  We got into a long train and the canyon was beautiful.  Not sure what any of my splits were, I say people looking at watches and I was tempted to ask but never did.  After 2 miles passed Carol's fiance and then by 3 I was feeling it a little and was worried, it may just have been getting used to the downhill.  There was a guy I was running with a little that I thought had good pace and stayed with us a while.  By 4 I was caught up to M & C and just paced with them.  Carol was a little ahead and I asked Mel what his pace was, he said 6:37.  I stayed with him but when Carol got 20 yards on us I knew I'd regret not going with her.  I stayed behind her and watched her pass a few people, there was a girl in light blue she passed but then at 6 this girl got back on her tail and passed her back, I was right there to see it because I was ready to pass them both.  That was between 6 and 7.  Each mile I just set as my pace to pass another person.  I made a conscious effort to start going faster after mile 6.  Through some turns and at the end of the canyon I think I passed a few but there was a good chain of runners.  Black sports bra muscular girl, shirtless guy with heart moniter, girl in orange outfit, then me, stretched out over 250 yards.  I felt good through mile nine and then the miles really seemed to come slowly.  We started coming into town and there was some uphill, but I told myself to stay positive.  There was a guy I passed in white (Andy B?) between 9 and 10 and then I got on the back of orange female (Mischelle Allred) by mile 10 but with the uphill couldn't catch her.  She stayed away from me and I felt like I was hanging on.  Through the long stretch of miles 11, 12, 13 I stayed fairly strong.  The last mile a forest green HS kid passed me and did what I had wanted to do for 3 miles, he passed orange outfit.  Then in the last homestretch my friend in white caught me and told me to kick, we opened up and after mile 13 kicked it in, I was happy to have a kick and couldn't pass him, nor did I feel like I could kick any harder.  After the race I had more pain than I think I can ever remember.  I kept telling myself how humorous it was that I felt this much pain but I was supremely happy with my effort.  I could not run a step.  I walked/limped/hobbled around for a cool down and tried to stretch, even my shoulders were sore, especially my right one.  Happy with myself that I pushed to a limit I've never felt.