All it takes is all you've got

Nice work, Nan. It's not often you can say you beat a 15:00 Kenyan. Sounds like a fun race. Is this 4 wins in a row?

That's great. Must be fun to win races like that! Imagine how much further you would have been ahead of the kenyan if you had worn a skirt.

Thanks guys. Steve, I did wear the skirt. I think that is why I won, actually. The two women behind me were in shorts, and the Kenyan too (thank goodness). Its must be bad karma to race the skirt chaser in shorts. ;)

Wow, great race! From trying on several skirts and owning a couple, I'd say it highly depends on the skirt whether it will ride up, whether it feels immodest, etc.

wowsers your in great shape well done Nan excellent racing and great report you cease to amaze me :)

great job on a strong race and another win! your fitness is great and it looks like it will be a perfect peak for TOU.

Hmmmm....how many doors you've opened for me to tease you with...what's behind door number one? Hey, I'll be the bigger man, and open the door of praise. Great job! You probably could have done better without the wake boarding. That's got to tire you out.

Now, like Sam, you have ceased to amaze me. You better do something special for for TOU; like beat Allie. I hope you do.

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad I'm ceasing to amaze you all. What a relief. ;)

Burt, the wake boarding offer was last minute and I just couldn't turn it down. It was worth it! But yes, if I'd done that same thing back in college when Coach Shane was my dictator, he would have flipped! Just one of the bonuses of being your own coach. You don't need anyone's permission to be take part in some spontaneous potential race hindering fun. Keeps me sane to "break the rules" sometimes. :)

Nice Race Nan -

I would have gone wake boarding too. WAY more fun than racing...and you still got to race...AND win $500 in prizes. Not a bad day!

Hahaha! "a tiny Kenyan lung on a stick"! Good stuff. Congrats on the win!

I was doing the math as I read your report and said to myself as you were in third mile - it would take a world-class performance to catch you. I almost said - the poor guy has no chance of catching her. Then I was not surprised that it was a Kenyan that almost did.

Was this a loop course? How much elevation gain the first two miles?

In any case 17:27 on a goofy day with the last half alone at altitude is very encouraging. Shows some serious speed is still there.

Thanks, Sasha. Yes, I was very encouraged as well. The last time I ran that fast in a 5k was in college! The Skirt Chaser website doesn't post an elevation profile, but here is the map: http://www.skirtchaser5k.com/denver/SkirtChaser-5k-Denver-Course-Map.pdf

My Garmin says

1st mile: 164 ft gain, 131 ft loss

2nd mile: 90 ft gain, 104 ft loss,

3rd mile: 101 ft gain, 159 ft loss

For whatever that info is worth? The course was never flat, just up gradually up or down. Very nice course. I think I must have maxed myself out at that distance because I am still trying to recover from my effort.

Oh and Sasha, what is your opinion about me racing a 10 miler all out on Labor Day, 12 days before TOU? Do you think I'll recover in time? Or do you think it is too close to the marathon?

The Kenyan that finished behind you is Kennett Kiptoo. His time was 15:02. Fairly safe to assume he floored it given it was only a 5 K, it was a matter of $500 and he lost. He's run 28:52 at DesNews 10 K, 30:24 at Boulder Bolder, and his half PR is 1:02:48. Prorating that (with the help of the blog's pace calculator on the left side when you do your entries), this gives you 33:30 at DesNews, 35:17 at Boulder Bolder, and 1:12:53 wherever he happened to run his half PR.

I would take the half and Boulder Bolder with a grain of salt, as he appears to have been in better shape for that than DesNews. However, I feel fairly confident saying you could have run DesNews in 33:30. This would have chicked Jon and tied with Adam.

That is enough speed to run 2:35 with good marathon training in TOU. With yours, maybe 2:42.

Is there a reason to race it all out? If it pays, do it. You may not fully recover, but you might not need to fully recover to win with the course record at TOU.

If it does not pay, start out at marathon pace then progress into half marathon pace, and maybe run the last mile at 5 K pace if feeling good.

$500 for 1st, $250 for 2nd, $100 for third. Maybe I'll just keep the leaders in sight and see if I can pass them near the end. It should only take between 1:00-1:03 to win it, based on past years.

Good idea!

On a side note, according to the results you beat everybody other than Kiptoo even without the 3 minute handicap. Way to almost chick the field!

Haha. My husband pointed that out to me too. Weird that it wasn't a deeper field? Just more reason to go back again next year. :)

On the women's side it was OK. On the men's it was not. And for a good reason. 3 minute gap is perfect from the point of view of depth when 20 minute women are racing 17 minute men, but it is too much when the women start running 17. There is a reason for that as well.

True honest physiological difference is about 1:30-1:40 (think Dibaba vs Bekele). However, much fewer women than men max out their physiological potential. And it is not because they are having kids. If you look at the fertility rates among competitive women in the US you would not find them below regional average for their age bracket.

A much bigger factor is what I would call the woman factor X, and interestingly enough it is exceptionally high in the US. Possibly because we put a lot of stress on women to perform, and that stress gets them more easily depressed, irrational, and otherwise emotionally out of balance.

So long story short, if a girl of even fairly average ability learns to control the woman factor X, she will completely waste her much more talented competition. One way to get a handle on that is to seek and absorb your husband's honest feedback on your woman factor X status on a consistent basis. In addition to improving the running performance it also improves the marriage.