Well, I am very pleasantly surprised at myself. This was a beautiful race in the high desert about 30 miles north of Phoenix. The entire run is lined with luminarias, which became very visible when it started getting dark around mile 2. it was beautiful!
The race is advertised as a 4-mile race, but it was actually only 3.57 miles. I went up there with my friend who I have been running with lately. It was her first race ever, so we did our own thing for the race.
The course went through a residential neighborhood and had lots of rolling hills. It started on an incline, but, thanks to the out-and-back course, it finished smokin' fast! My mile splits were 8:37 (hilly), 9:18 (BIG uphill and water stop), 8:33, and 7:39 (yeah!) for the last .57. My "gold" goal was to finish with an average pace under 9:00, and I would have been okay with anything under 10:00, given the fact that I took so much time off and have been running about 11:00 pace with my friend. So, I ROCKED my goal, and I am a happy camper!
We went to In n Out Burger afterwards-yum! My friend finished with a 9:43 average-I am so proud of her!
Update: I finished 6th in my age group (30-34) out of 38, and 139/592 overall. Not too shabby! |