This race was crazy! Definitely cross country at its best. I wasn't sure how I would do due to lack of endurance, and I definitely felt it around mile 6. The rough terrain really started to get to my feet and ankles. They got tired of being flopped around so much. I got muddy, ran up hills that would have been faster to walk up, ran in sand, tripped on roots, and kind of took a wrong turn. Luckily I noticed we did it and called everyone back. At that point I was in third, and my friend Olivia was in second. Since she had a 15-20 second lead on me, she ended up almost a minute behind me because of the wrong turn. So I slowed down in mile 12 to let her get me. I figured all I wanted was a workout, and I wanted the results to be fair. She deserved it. I can probably subtract about a minute from my time associated with all of the confusion and waiting. I'll have to get my splits later although they don't mean much on this course. We did run a couple of sub-7s in the middle, even with some hills in there. The funny thing is my time on this crazy course was faster than my half marathon PR pace. I really need to run a good half to get that down. I decided to do the Hoover Dam Half on Halloween when I am in Vegas for my brothers wedding. I don't know how I'll run out there though.
| 