Oh I am SO over hills! SO. OVER. HILLS. No, I've never liked hills and yes, I'm whining (sorry, bad attitude day). This course was a BEAST. I've never run anything quite like it before. I've been through Thanksgiving Point Gardens so I knew what I was in for, but holy Hannah! I tell ya, by mile 9 I was cussing the rolling hills under my breath. Rollers all OVER the place. Not a good uphill, not a good downhill, just up and down and up and down every 20-50 feet. It is pretty in the gardens and I'm sure as you drive your cart along the golf course, but man alive it is NOT fun to run! Okay...I'm done now. Met Smooth, Toby, Catherine, Karen and Lowell for a 5 mile warm-up and well, since I was the late one (yes, bad day all around) we only got 4.5 in - which left just enough time for a potty stop and a quick breather before the race. AP for warm-up: 9:09
My plan was to hit MP for the race. I'd been cautioned about the difficulty of the race course and told that getting into the 8:10-8:15 range would be sufficient effort. I lined up and started around the 1:55 pacer, but quickly decided if I caught up to the 1:45 pacer and stayed in front of him I'd be golden. Well, poor pacing again as he caught me around mile 4-5 and said he was almost 2 min ahead of time. We leap frogged a lot through the gardens, but then I finally left him just as we started the golf course trail. I never heard from him again until mile 8 when he said ":45 ahead of pace." As I'd seen my splits I figured he must have said 1:45...but who knows. I didn't care, I'd already decided I was just running MY race - screw the bad pacers. Oh, as a side note, the 2:00 pacer came in at 1:53...nice.... Anyway, I was tired of the course hills and cussing it, but I kept seeing my paces come in despite the bad terrain. It was giving me confidence and hope. At mile 11 I almost decided to slow down to 8:30's, but by then I had my ego to deal with and all the people around me. So...I carried on. I was pleased with my finish time and effort that seemed honestly a bit too hard for MP, but I'm trying to remember the terrain difference. AP: 7:58 (I got the course at 13 even, so my AP according to the race is 7:54) Splits: 7:35, 7:38, 7:39, 7:47, 8:12, 8:11, 8:11, 8:12, 8:07, 7:55, 8:20, 8:08, 7:41
After everyone came in and we got to chat with Jun, Lily, Julie C and lots of others we all headed off for our last 4.5. I got a chance to run a bit with Smooth, then finished up with Toby and Karen. I felt good, but run down. The legs are feeling the miles. AP for cool down: 9:49
Overall I felt good about this run, but I still need that mental boost to hit Ogden the way I should. C'mon Rachel...you CAN do this...you can.
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