So, I get to the race and despite feeling like crap (and eating like crap) all day yesterday I'm actually feeling okay, tired but good. Then my competitive nature takes over and I start scoping out the competition....lots of runners, but do I have it in me to beat them? Due to computer glitches the race started about 30 minutes late, but I had good company to hang with and I was already awake :) Lined up at the 'start' line and we were off, the first 200 yds in a hill to get out of the park and I knew it was downhill after that so I just pushed it, but as we turned the corner I was done and ready to walk, ooops I still have 6 miles+ to go! The next couple miles actually felt okay and I passed a few people and there were some that passed me (they were going SOO fast, I thought for sure they must've started 5 minutes late!). The first 2.7 you have some 'rolling' hills, but its a NICE downhill path to warm up on (you loose almost 300 ft of elevation). Then we hit the hills, the course is a loop so you have to recover everything you loose! I actually started feeling good around 3 and was ready to conquer those hills! Funny, but WBR has ruined my perception of hills. I can finally say "That Hill ain't S*@T!!!" I acutally passed about 3 or 4 people on the hill and was gaining on everyone I could pick out. I LOVED it - yes, I honestly truly loved it no sarcasm in the statement! It was great to feel good and run strong up the hill as I saw others struggling. So to my lovey BBK torture squad - THANK YOU!!!! The only problem was that at about mile 4.5 I was done, I contemplated walking but the competitive side kept me running and pushing. I had passed one woman on the hill and I knew she wasn't far behind, so I pushed on up another slight hill to the turnaround. Just before that I passed a water station and they started cheering for me and said "yea! nice job! You're the 2nd woman!!" I couldn't believe it, I thought there were 4 or 5 women in front of me...this just increased my mental push, we're almost done let's just kick it home!! I saw the 1st place lady at the turnaround and she was probably a good 3 minutes ahead of me, so I just concentrated on pushing past some of the men in front of me. Felt good again until the last uphill push (THIS hill was comparable to Ragnar, but only 100 yds or less!) I turned the corner grabed some water then saw Kelli. I was SO happy, I knew she would push me to the finish and keep me strong despite the fact that I felt like I couldn't breathe! At least I wouldn't hear her say "come on, you're not even breathing hard!" :) The course flattens out then the last .15 or so is the downhill back into the park and I let it go, I couldn't sprint like I would've like to and one guy I'd been leap-frogging sprinted past me, but I pushed to the finish! I was surprised to see that the time was 47:40, because I felt like I had relaxed a bit on the downhill and didn't push nearly as hard as I had on the Bluffdale course a couple weeks ago. I guess it was all my 'tapering' this week :) I was kind of bummed to get my card and see that the 1st place finisher was in my age group (24-35) and so I got 2nd in my AG as well - DANG!! I ran 5 minutes slower last year and still got 2nd in my AG, that's a small town run for you I guess. AP: 7:46mm splits: 7:27, 7:30, 7:26, 8:05, 8:00, 8:10, 7:31 (for the .2 finish) Total of 667 ft of elevation gain and since the finish is just beyond the start the elevation loss is 687 - so I guess this was a 'downhill' run - lol!!!
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