Oh, I knew today was going to be early, but I still hate it when that alarm goes off! Especially after my baby has pulled a fast one on me and woken up 3 times in the short 5.5 hours I'm trying to sleep. I went down to Lehi and met Becca at the JRP, because she had been so wonderful and come up here the past couple weeks, plus - I love the JRP in Lehi! It was dark and cold and I was whining about it. I wanted to go back to bed and be warm, but then we started the run - once you start a run you stop whining and just get it done. The first three miles went SO slow and were so hard, but by the time we turned at mile 6 things were a ton better. Only a few people out on the parkway, probably the least crowded I've seen it in quite some time. Got back to the cars at 11.35 grabbed a quick drink before we got cold then headed North and through the neighborhood to finish up to 13. Well, I took the long way and we ended back at the cars at 14 miles - meh, oh well - no worries what's an extra mile? AP: 8:41 splits: 9:07, 8:47, 8:38, 8:34, 8:41, 8:45, 8:37, 8:29, 8:42, 8:39, 8:35, 8:44, 8:38, 8:38 - good and pretty consistent splits, I like that!
Becca was going to do 16 total, but after telling her about the 5K she decided to come along - why not? It's for a good cause! So, we headed back out to Herriman and got there just in time to get our stuff and shiver uncontrollably from the cold. We decided to wait out the last 10 min or so before the race in Becca's car and the second time getting out it wasn't so bad. I was still dressed in all my cold weather clothing and had even put on my race shirt to keep warm(er). This was a decision I'd regret! As we were waiting for the start we met Chad and it was obvious from the crowd he would take a win here! We'd decided to just take things easy and not race, but once we started that race mentality took over and, well... let's just say we didn't really take it easy. The first mile was hard to get moving. I was all stiff and cold from the previous 14 miles and my body wasn't too happy about starting this again, especially at a faster pace. I pushed on and at about mile 1.5 things finally loosened up. It was also about here that we turned and I could see that Becca just a little way in front of me was probably 1st place in women and there were only 3 ladies between us. Well, now this would be worth the effort! The only discouraging thing to me was that this was the uphill portion (you must remember, this is Herriman you MUST go uphill and it always comes LAST). I knew everyone else was running the same hills though and I kept on, knowing I've run this hill too many times to count - I could do this! Slowly the ladies fell away, the last one put up the hardest fight. I could hear her foot falls keeping up with me for quite some time, I felt relieved when they finally faded. I found out later this was Missee from the blog. This was also the time I was regretting the extra clothing, the sun was up and I was HOT, but I was feeling good on the hills and I could see the finish and the last hill...I could do this! I now only had men in front of me to catch, Becca had a good 30 second+ lead on me. However, as this was a local race I knew a few of these guys and after all, I do have my pride :) I think I picked off about 5 men during this last stretch and 2 of them were on the last .4 of the course, they didn't like being passed in the end by a girl. This was quite evident from the sideways glance I got as I passed. Always feels good to finish a race strong! On the last downhill push to the finish I though, yeah this effort was well worth a good 22 min or so...HA! When I could finally see the clock it said 24:50, what?!? Yeah, well, I'm slow I guess I should be used to it by now. Official finish time was 25:01 then right after I finished a girl came up to me "Congratulations! 3rd Place Female!" and handed me a $20 gift card to Wasatch Running - SCORE!!! Becca got the same for 2nd place, so I didn't feel so bad about bringing her :) AP: 7:44 splits: 7;39, 7:39, 8:01, 7:07 (last .23) - kind of bummed I couldn't keep that last full mile under an 8, but since this was the hardest part of the hills I really can't complain about the pace (especially after finishing 14 miles just an hour before).
As we caught our breath we had a good chat and met Missee and found out she was from the blog and my email to the chumps had brought her there. Made me smile! Becca was done, but since the course was long I couldn't leave my mileage at 17.23, I had to even it out to 18. So, Missee and I ran a flat cool down around the parking lot. Only bad part is that I didn't get to say a proper good-bye to Becca and a thank you for pushing me (well, pulling) me through the race. It was great to hit some strides on fatigued legs - THANKS!! I stayed for the raffle and they had some REALLY good prizes. If I would've seen them all I probably would've bought a few extra tickets. But, I won a signed football and Maurine won Larry Miller's autobiography (she couldn't run so I picked up her shirt and raffle ticket of course!). They also had a silent auction of some pretty cool stuff too! I ended up winning the auction on a limited edition signed print that was professionally framed and had the certificate as well, it is BEAUTIFUL, and I got it so cheap I felt like I was stealing it! I had a wonderful time at the race and a great morning! I felt good about the paces I hit on the hills - I will conquer hills someday! Thank you Mexican Mountain Goat, we shall meet again. It was also nice that some of the people I passed commented afterward to me how impressed they were that I could keep such a good pace consistent up those hills and wished they could've kept up. Always nice to get compliments from others! Gotta love a good fulfilling morning of friends, running and prizes! Now I must address a different topic (if you're not bored out of your mind and have actually read all this! Just know, I had to type it up twice - I know better than to write a long report and not save it STINK!). So....if anyone is willing and able I would love some company on a nice 31K trek on Tuesday morning to celebrate my 31 years of life I've enjoyed! :) Let me know if you're interested and we can work out details!
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