SUCH A GREAT DAY!!!! Sophia wanted to run the Spanish Fork 5K today to defend her age division title. Little did she know that she would take the WHOLE DANG ENCHILADA!!!!!!! :) Sophia has not been doing much speed work and so we weren't sure what to expect. We had run a 3 miler a couple of weeks ago at a 7:30 pace which seemed plenty hard but we were confident that she would run faster than that. The Spanish Fork 5K and half marathon is always so well organized with such a fantastic small town feel and great overall race atmosphere. I know that Kim Lee does a ton to make this race what it is. Not sure if she will read this report, but if so: NICELY DONE once again, Kim!!! Ry, Sophia and I arrived with a few minutes to spare and so ran a slow gentle half of a mile. My calf hurt, but it was definitely runnable. We then proceeded to the starting line. I immediately spotted the guy who I knew would win. I have no idea who he is but you can just tell. I looked around to spot the woman runner whom I believed would win. MAN ALIVE ... I thought, I think Sophia can take it!!!! I told her that we needed to start at the front and that there was $50 prize money if she could win this thing. Her eyes lit up but you could tell that her nerves did as well. Gun went off. We took off and ran the first mile (which has a gentle uphill) in just under 7 minutes. Sophia looked fantastic. Her breathing was fast but under control. The second mile got quite a bit harder. More uphill, but steeper. At this point Sophia began to continually turn her head to see what women were behind her. The only woman we could spot was about 30 seconds back. I told Smo to stop looking back but she continued to do so every quarter of a mile or so. I am sure this slowed her down a bit because she knew she could out kick me in the end and each time she turned to look back she could tell that the gap on the other woman was becoming larger. We kept running. When we had roughly 800 meters left in the race Sophia and I were pretty much side by side. Needless to say, when I told her the remaining distance she took off!!!! Ry was just a bit ahead. I tried to keep up but there was no way. Not sure if it was taking the 5 days off of running, the pain in the calf, or simply because I am getting older!! :) Sophia ended up beating me by 11 seconds! It was AWESOME seeing her just fly down the final stretch. The crowd was cheering her in!! An 11 year old was the first woman!!! GLORIOUS!!! Her time was 22:05 (see http://sophia.fastrunningblog.com/ ). Sophia was now $50 richer!!! :) :) :) I ended up in 2nd, which I was more than happy with!! :) Anyway, as usual, the calf was no better but no worse. Was very frustrated that the 5 days off did not seem to help at all. So mad that I said, "To HECK with it" and ran an additional 20 miles afterward with Ry, AP 8:23. Ryan is peaking perfectly as this pace felt very easy for him. I am going to have to swallow a whole lot of pride at SGM this year as it is very likely that he will beat me. That is if I make it to the starting line at all. :) GREAT DAY! | 
