9 on the 9th -- Race Report

Waking up this morning was an experiment. The last few days I've had a bit of an illness going on, so I was nervous to see what today would bring. The verdict: I'm feeling 100%! Good timing, too, since this is the biggest race of the year so far!

I beat the sun to waking up this morning, in fact I had time to eat breakfast, get ready, drive 30 minutes to Todd's Road, and click off a few miles before the sun even stuck it's head out! Not a bad way to start the day, although to continue the day I do believe a nap is in order.

The race this morning started out pretty nice: about 40 degrees, slight breeze, and a few clouds in the sky. There was a good showing at Todd's Road this morning, although I had a hunch I'd be running alone. I was mostly right.

We all headed outside, and I swore I saw Nic warming up a couple (hundred) miles down the road. The gun went off (aka, George started running) and I took off. The first few miles I was shaking out the cobwebs and slowly building steam for the rest of the run. And building steam is exactly what I did.

The hills out in the country here always keep me honest, though, because they never stop as you can see in the elevation profile, although SLB more than likely eats hills like those for breakfast! After the 4.5 mile turnaround I started seeing all the other runners, which really gets me going for some reason. I clocked off a few miles in the 6:20's before finally running out of steam at mile 7. I still held a decent pace, but I was feeling those quick miles from before!

Finally, the hills stopped and I was finished. Here's the breakdown:

6:50
6:45
6:43
6:36 (Here we go!)
6:23
6:22
6:20
6:40 (Finally had to back off a little)
6:41

Total time: 59:35
Avg. Pace: 6:36
The proof: Garmin Data

All in all I'm really happy with this run. I was able to build up a lot more speed than I thought I would be able to, and held on for quite some time!

After finishing, I found out I wasn't alone up there. We had a new guy this weekend (actually, we had five new runners!) who was trying to chase me down the last couple miles, but the hills were getting to him as well. He's one quick guy, and I bet he'll give me a run for my money next time I'm out there. From what I can tell his focus is on half marathons, and he has a 1:18 under his belt. Sounds like I might have a new training partner this year!

Biking this afternoon is looking iffy, because my legs are still completely dead. I'm thinking I'll take the rest of the day off and let them rest after that all out effort.

Thanks for putting this on, Nancy! I hope everybody else had a great 9 on the 9th!