Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start . . . Okay, enough Sound of Music. Weather: 65° F, 73% humidity, wind 6 NE.
I did not sleep well last night. And then I got up just a little bit later than I had intended to. Parking was going to be a hassle at the race because there was also a parade. So I decided to run to the race, thus the 4.23 slow miles. That was my running to the race. At these HRCA (Highlands Ranch Community Association) races they always hand out race packets and goody bags right before the race, even if you register in advance. Since I didn't drive to the race, I couldn't put my bag and shirt in my car. But the race went around my office, so I walked over to my office and left my stuff there. It was nice to be able to go into a nice bathroom and pin my number on in front of a big mirror, and not have to wait in line for a hot, stinky port-a-potty. I got back to the race about 15 minutes before the race start. It was hard to know exactly where to line up. I lined up not far from the front, next to a couple of older guys who said they were shooting for 7:00 pace. The first mile was pretty easy with some downhill and some flat. I wasn't feeling fantastic, but I ran that mile in 7:24. The second mile started easy with a nice downhill, but then it went back up hill and started onto the trails that are behind my office. I never saw a mile 2 marker. I'm not sure if there was one. I slowed a little on this mile and ran it in 7:40. It was about halfway through this mile that I started leap frogging a girl with a green shirt and long braids. She was flying like bat out of heck on the short downhills, but then I would pass her on the up hills. The third mile was beyond brutal. The first half was still on the trails and believe me, there are very steep hills there. Once we got off the trails, we were back on the roads, but it was quite literally uphill the rest of the way to the finish. I was really struggling to keep going and ran this mile in 8:26. I was still leap frogging green shirt and braids girl, and I managed to pass two young girls in sports bras, but then they passed me before the finish. I talked to the green shirt and braids girl after the race. I think I beat her by about 15 seconds. She was 32. My average pace on this race is slower than my average pace for the Boulder Bolder 10K. Nevertheless, I really gave this race all I had. I don't believe I could have run that course any faster on this day. I need to find a flat 5K to set a real 5K PR. In retrospect, maybe a 4 mile warm up was too long and I finished it too long before the start of the race. I didn't have my wits about me enough to remember that they have an awards ceremony where they present age group awards and I missed it. I'll have to go pick up my medal later. Note that the 10th place overall finish I reported is my place among all women, not all finishers and is what I remember from looking at the posted results sheet after the race. Official results aren't posted online yet.
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