Race Day! I woke up this morning TIRED. I really thought I didn't have it in me today. After the marathon, I realized that I was capable of coming in sub-two, but I wasn't sure if today was going to be my day. And after the first two miles of steep downhill running, I felt like I had spent it all - my head hurt, and I figured it was going to be a bad race. I ran the first two miles in 14 minutes, and completed the first three in about 22 minutes. I hadn't been taking my walk breaks, and my heart-rate was WAY too high. I felt really lousy. So I forced myself to slow down, take my walk breaks, and forget about trying to PR. It wasn't until after the seventh mile marker at 1:01 that I realized I just had to keep running, and I would make my two-hour time, but only just barely. So I kept doing my thing, taking my walk breaks, forgetting my ego, and letting people pass me. To my surprise, I came in at 1:54:26! I was quite pleasantly surprised. Another PR for me! This was 20 minutes faster than my previous race time, and a good eight minutes faster than my fastest 13.1 miles! I finished 101st out of 503 overall, and 20th out of 74 in my age division. The headache lasted most of the day, until I finally realized I probably just needed my minerals replaced. Then I was able to take care of it in 5 minutes.
Ben and I finished off the evening with a short 10 mile bike ride on our mountain bikes. It took about 50 minutes. I am SO ready to go to sleep! :-) | 