The weather turned out to be perfect, despite the snow in the forecast. It snowed a little bit the evening before but was just a little wet and cloudy the morning of. 35 degrees and overcast.
I gathered with my team, Running Republic around 8:10 a.m. and Darren gave me a long-sleved racing top to wear. We warmed up together and did potty stops and strides. My calves and achilles were pretty tight on the warm up. Race started at 9:00 a.m. Calves and achilles still a little tight, but started to feel warm around mile 2.
The race starts on a little hill but then is gradual downhill for the next couple of miles and pretty much flat with gradual hills. Not a super hilly course. A very nice, fast course.
I just went out with my teammate, Bean for the first few minutes and then got into my own groove. I ran with a guy in a Boulder Stiders shirt on for about a mile, ran with another teammate, Erik Werner for a half mile, and then was alone for a couple of miles. Caught a young high-school guy around mile 4 and he hung on my shoulder for a coulple of miles and then outkicked me at the end.
Overall I felt very good and fast. I don't think the tightness in my calves and achilles affected me much at all other than maybe not having as good of a kick at the end and getting duped by the 17-year-old kid. My lungs and heart felt very strong and fit though. My splits were quite even:
5:53, 5:51, 5:45, 5:56, 5:51, 5:43, final .2 in 5:24 pace
Afterwards I cooled down with the team and ate breakfast burritos, oranges, gatorade, with teammates in the school cafeteria while they announced awards. Erik won a pie and divied up some dollops on our plates that we enjoyed eating with our fingers. Bean was gifted a few swipes of whipped topping on her nose from Erik and Darren. I think almost everyone in our group won a prize! They gave great age-group awards; a loaf of Great Harvest Bread for third, pie for 2nd, and $25 gift card to Natural Grocers for age group winners. As overall winner I got a pie, a crystal turkey platter, and a $25 gift card to Natural Grocers (inteded to purchase a high quality Thanksgiving Turkey with). Our team was represented well. Overall for the men our team took 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 8th. And for the women, we swept the top 3 spots. What a FUN race! | 