What a great day to race! The sun was out and everyone was in a good mood. Woke up at 4:55 and hurried up the canyon. I arrived and was on one of the first buses. Sat near Mark P and visited briefly. Great to see him, he is always encouraging. Small warmup with strides. Ran into Kam who decided to run afterall. He was a saint for me and took my bag to truck of bags as I lined up. Thank you Kam! I saw Allie, James and Devra at the start. I knew they would be leading and run a smart pace. Race started and I felt very comfortable. Miles 1-3 (6:19, 6:17, 6:21) Stayed with Allie for the first 5k (19:20 or so) and lost her after the first water stop. Took a decaf GU here.Why did I stop for water at 3 miles with GU? Not sure. Note to self- next time I can probably make it at least to the 10k without nutrition. That's what carb loading is for, right!?. Anyway, Allie at this point immediatly had 12 seconds on me. It was all due time, I knew I wasn't going to be quite there with her today. She looked so strong and controlled the entire way. She was on fire! Devera was somewhere already in the crazy distance with the guys. I never really saw her again. The down hill was great. I loved how subtle if felt, nothing jarring or crazy, it just made the effort more effortless. Perfect. 4-6 (6:22, 6:19, 6:30) Felt great for these miles, skipped the water stop this time at mile 6. I felt the downhill disapear into flat long stretch for a couple miles. 10k was around 39:30ish. 7-9 (6:37, 6:42, 6:57) Started hitting some long hill stretches here, slowly climbing steadily to the finish. They weren't awful at all, just long enough to make you feel tired and slow. I tried to really push them, something I normally struggle to do. I kept waiting for them to let up and give a little downhill relief, but it seemed a the top of every hill was a flat surface with another long hill in the future. Again, the hills were not too steep but long. Allie was the only person in front of me for most of the race, but at this time, she was a couple minutes ahead. I looked behind me on one corner and saw several guys ( later learned one was a girl right behind me) and felt I very comfortably had 3rd place. Nope. 10-13.1 (6:51, 6:59, 6:57, 6:57) Hit some sort of half marathon wall in the last 1.5 to go. Can only contribute that to inconsistant training on my part. The pace started slipping no matter how hard I tried to stay around average goal pace of 6:30. Yeah there were some rollers, but I was just beat. With 1 mile left, a girl passed me and I finished 4th overall. I had nothing left in the tank to even think about going with her. (This girl was ranked 2nd in the series. The good thing is that the 1st girl in the series finished 2 mins behind me, so it will be interesting to see where we all sit now.) Cooled down with Devra, Allie, James and Mark P. I was definitely breathing the hardest. They had all been done, some of them up to 10+ minutes. As soon as I crossed the finish, I took a water from Mark P who decided to double as the water boy for the runners coming in:) Then Devra said, "let's go warm down". I couldn't turn that down. So happy to tag along (or what felt like a continuation of the race:) with those talented runners. Thanks! Saw Kam at the end who ran a smart race to get him ready for Boston. So excited for all you Boston runners!!! I had the hardest time being excited for this race, but I am always glad afterwards. I had a great time, raced as hard as I could, and had no pain or irregular discomfort. Couldn't ask for more. Good benchmark to start the season! I turn 30 in less than two weeks, I feel a peak is coming....
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