I hesitated to make this a race report, because I didn't really race it. However, it was officially a race.
I was debating as recently as yesterday whether to run it, but Bonnie and JD said that I should, and so I did.
I got up at 5:09 (5:00 alarm plus one snooze). We left the house at about 5:35. I made my husband drive me. This is the third time I've run this race and every time I make him drive me to the start and then pick me up at the finish, even though you can park at the finish and take a bus up to the start.
I was supposed to pick up my race packet last weekend at a Runner's Roost store in Denver, but I didn't do it. So I went a little earlier this morning than I normally would have because I needed to pick it up before the race. It turned out that I didn't need to go as early as I did. Oh well. At least we got decent parking at the start.
After I got my race number, we spent some time just sitting in the car. I did step out once for a port-a-potty visit, and then it was more sitting in the car. I noticed that there was a woman by herself in the car next to us. So when it was time to start walking to the start for the start of the race, I got out of my car and spoke to her and then we stuck together until the race started. It was nice to have someone to talk to and not be all by myself before the race. But we split up at the starting line and I never saw her again. I didn't stick around very long after the race and I didn't see her there.
They had pacers at this race, which I hadn't seen before at this race. Maybe they started it last year. I didn't run this race last year. In any case, we lined up a ways behind the 2:20 pacer. The first couple of miles of this race are miserable because you have to run this loop around Georgetown and then you pass the start again and head down the frontage road towards Idaho Springs. The loop around Georgetown is very congested and it's hard to get past people. However, I did manage to pass the 2:20 pacer and the 2:15 pacer in those first two miles. For most of the rest of the race I could see the 2:10 pacer a ways ahead but I never seemed to gain on her. I figured for a 2:10 finish she should be running 10 minute miles, and I thought I was running a bit under 10:00, so I should have been gaining on her. I finally passed her with a couple of miles to go.
I really took this race pretty slow and easy. I kept thinking of it as just a regular Saturday long run at a comfortable pace. As a result, I was not as uncomfortable as I was last time I ran this race. The time actually passed fairly pleasantly. After about 6 miles I tried to pick the speed up just a little bit, and then with 3 miles to go, I picked it up a little more and then pushed about the last quarter of a mile. I passed quite a few people in the last quarter of a mile.
There were aid stations every two miles, but I skipped the 2 mile stop and the 6 mile stop. So I walked a few steps and drank some water at 4, 8, 10, and 12 miles. It was shady for the first two miles and then after that there was hardly any shade. In about the last 4 miles, there were sometimes small shady spots at the edge of the road from trees. Everyone shifted to the side of the road where there was a little shade. I did that except when it contradicted the tangent badly.
That's pretty much the story of the race. Not very exciting. Now I'm tired and useless for the rest of the day.
Stats are based on the auto lap of my Garmin and my Garmin measured long - 13.15 instead of 13.10.
AP: 9:34. Splits: 10:29, 9:56, 9:49, 9:36, 9:51, 9:38, 9:25, 9:33, 9:31, 9:27, 9:09, 9:20, 9:00, 0.15 @ 7:41.
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