What a beautiful day for a race! Pine Vally is wonderful as always, just cool enough to make me want to get moving. The race was run very well; water stops at the right places, good course directions, and yummy food at the end. I had a great morning! A couple of my friends signed up for the run too so we all rode up together. I loved seeing all the people on the side of the road training for marathon. What an inspiration! The start of the run was an gentle downhill. I had to keep reminding myself to hold back so I would have something left to get back up the hill at the end. The first half I was doing 8.5m/m. For the next bit there were some challenging uphill climbs. I haven't done hill training so combined with the elevation I ended up walking four different times. Felt like a loser, but so what. Arriving at the turnaround point put a major smile on my face. I was able to make up some time here as I let gravity take me down those nasty inclines I had just gone up. I got a big boost when I saw a friend cheering me on that I didn't even know was up there this weekend. The finish line was coming up quickly and I was used up, but I still felt I was still able to finish strong. I averaged 9:22, much slower than I wanted--- but until I get invited to the Olympics I have the feeling I will always be slower than I wanted hehe. Considering my lack of training and the elevation challenge I've decided to feel pretty good about this run. big winks and smilely faces to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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