13.1/ 8:40 ap, 3281 total runners, 1941 women runners (I ranked 376th of women runners, 50th of the 221 in my Age Division).
I went up fairly early and ran a 3 mile warm up behind the start. The day was gorgeous, clear, and windless. Friday had been miserable hiking through arches (it felt like 20 degrees, snow piled on top of red sand, and it blew sand and snow into our hair and faces up at delicate arch). But as soon as I warmed up (30 degrees, but no wind) I felt great. The worry over my stiff hips and lower back disappeared. I waited about 6 minutes till the road was cleared to cross the starting matt. Wanted to take advantage of running easy downhill 8:34/8:24. Mile 2 I stopped to drink, take off my thermal shirt, fix my hair/ear band that was acting crazy. 9:04/8:29/8:23 fairly downhill, when there were spots of sun on the road peeking through the canyon walls people would erupt into cheering--it was still pretty cold. 8:10/8:43/8:21 these were gentle the uphill miles, and as you can see the splits were really consistent. I felt strong going up those hills and kept thinking of my daughter who during a tough treadmill run a couple weeks ago sat on the spin bike next to the treadmill and 'rode alongside the treadmill' saying really encouraging things. I repeated the things she said in my mind "Go Mama! You're doing good getting ready for Boston!". She's really excited to go with me. I thought of being 'a diamond & titanium girl. I thought about the huge plate of rigatoni I'd eaten the night before--the thoughts of the rigatoni were especially encouraging. I allowed myself to slow down between miles 9-10 (9:23) where that last big hill about kills you coming out of the canyon--right before the drum ladies who beat those huge skin drums--that always gives me the chills. Then coming out of the canyon onto the road, I kept saying Smooth's "smooth-strong-fast" and "smooth to the finish". I hate running on that road and it was especially heinous today with all the construction. 8:45/8:41/8:43 I surprised myself on the finish--I could have maybe even gone faster but I just wanted to maintain a strong & steady finish. At least 3 people had warned me not to overdo the race today. I thought an 8:40 average (only about 10 seconds behind my best half race pace) was reasonable effort. After I finished (1:53), I ran back 1.5 miles to find my sister and ran her into the finish. The sunlight, the red rock, the Colorado River, the company, the air quality, the clear sky--it was a Spring Equinox extraordinaire. We talked with Walter (who came in 7th overall) and Misty for a bit, chatted about Boston, who was going, what everyone was going to do. It was a really nice day. I feel I can do my best training in the next two weeks, and feel much more confident about my steps toward a strong finish at Boston. Got home around 5:30-- going to do my pushups and sit ups-- I have not done them since Wednesday. 19 miles total, 7 or more miles at Race Pace. It was a good day. | 