After the FRB get-together at Scott Ensign's house last night, we slept in his basement. Allie came over at 6 a.m. and we all drove to the race start together. Had a little mix-up with Scott's neighbor whom we thought was going to give us a ride, so after waiting for him for a bit we ended up just going up in Allie's car and parking quickly so we could pick up our race bibs and get somewhat of a warm-up. I jogged around for about 5 minutes, did a couple of strides, and visited a tree (since the porta-pot lines were too long.) Lined up on the start line with Paul, Allie, Scott and others. Temp was pretty chilly since the sun was still behind the mountain but once we got running I warmed up pretty quickly. Mile 1- 5:53 Legs were resisting the pace a bit. Some tightness in my hips and quads. Mile 2- 5:56 Still trying to get moving. Mile 3- 5:50 Slight downhill helps. Mile 4- 5:44 Okay, now the legs are submitting to my will (after that 5k warm-up). Mile 5- 5:30 Quite a bit of dowhnill, some headwind. I followed a guy in a blue jersey and imagined a pony tail on him to motivate me to race him. Then I looked down at his legs and the hairy poof just made it really hard to imagine him female. Mile 6- 5:38 Still some headwind and downhill. Mile 7- 5:50 First half of this mile was downhill, second half was pretty steep uphill Mile 8- 5:52 Still pushing up the steep hill. Crested the hill and had a half mile of flat brought my pace back down. Mile 9- 5:30 Gradual downhill, one intersection with no officer directing traffic. I was lucky there were no cars because I ran a red light. Final .3- 5:18 pace Little more downhill and a sprint to the finish. After I finished I drank a couple of cups of Gatorade and jogged up to run Allie and Ruth in. Aaron was taking pictures of everyone and Scott's wife, Karen was helping keep an eye on our kids (who kept raiding the post-race food and gatorade). FRB-ers did really well!! Lots of PRs and overall/age group wins. After chatting with bloggers (Paul, Jon, Cody, Scott, Allie, Ruth, Dave) for a bit Aaron left with Cody to go mountain running and Karen watched my kids so I could do a little cool down with Allie and Ruth. I am very pleased with the race. That was my first time racing 15K; it is such a fun distance to race! Its just long enough to really get into a groove and feel good without getting too fatigued. I didn't need any liquid or gu in the race so there were no distractions and no tummy/bowel problems. Super fun race! The kids were enjoying themselves at the playground nearby while we waited for the awards/raffle. After all the runners finished we sat down and listened to the awards. Milliseconds timing group had a little confusion since they had not gotten the finish line pad down until after the first 6-8 runners had already finished so they were asking us our finish times (its a good thing most runners time themselves). They gave fireworks to the kids and a nice pottery bowl trophy to the overall/age group placers plus lots of raffle prizes. Just after Scott was complaining that he never wins anything in those raffles he was proven wrong when they called his name and gave him a free backpack. After that I gave Allie and Dave S. a ride back to their car up the canyon at the race start and went back to Scott's house to shower and get our stuff while we waited for Aaron. Karen made some yummy sausages and hot dogs for lunch and we hung out for a couple more hours until Aaron returned and we left for our family get-togethers. We had such a fun time in Cache Valley and are really grateful for Scott and Karen Ensign's kind hospitality and generosity in hosting us for the night, feeding us and helping with our kids. It was really fun to get to know lots of bloggers better and race as a way of celebrating our Freedom and this great Country in which we live. | 