Ah, Striders. I think what happened was this. A race director went to bed after a spicy meal and strenuous argument with his spouse. He awoke in the night with horrible indigestion and lingering bitterness over harsh words. In this state of mind, he brooded on a 5k course that mirrored his sour, resentment; thus the Striders 5k was born, complete with taxing uphills, too-steep descents, and an uphill finish to boot. In a final expression of anger, he staged the race in the dead of winter. But 400+ people show up for this thing. I forgot how fun it is to pull up and see all the runners at a race beginning. People pinning bibs and securing chips and stretching and pounding energy drinks and spitting and striding. There are only a handful of runners there with a lick of talent, but the rest of us grind out our miles and come tackle the course. The race started on time. The first half mile was okay; it's pretty flat. .5-1.5 is a steady climb. My pace drifted up over 8mm, breathing was very difficult. Running all winter on a treadmill with broken incline hasn't done my hill running any favors. I was very close to taking a brief walking break as I neared the top of this hill, but it would be to embarrassing, so I kept running. The downhill was a nice respite, but way too short and steep. Minutes later the climbing resumed. I must have gone out too fast, as I got passed 4-5 times in the last .75. I nearly walked again (so weak in the brain) but I looked over my shoulder and saw that 5 people would have passed me so I kept going. When we entered the parking lot the 1st place girl passed me, but long legs on the uphill finish prevailed. I came in at 20:30, a 1 minute improvement from last year. I'm very excited about that. My one day taper really did the trick. That's a 5% improvement from last year. If I apply that to my most recent marathon, that's 10 minutes...Encouraging.
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