I got nervous last night, realizing that I’m finally at a level where I’m racing people, not just the clock.  Now I have to pay serious attention to where I line up because starting behind someone in my AG can make all the difference between winning and losing.  What a pain in the ass, but hey, I guess that’s why it’s called racing.

Lining up I saw a fast-looking woman who seemed around my age, so I tried to get as close to her as possible, but she was a little nearer to the front than I felt comfortable with, so I stayed behind.  Not that it mattered, the gun went off and she shot ahead faster than I could have chased, so I just said “oh well, I know I’m not First” and sucked it up.

Funny how last year, this race seemed like it had a couple hills.  This year, same course, it seemed a little rolling but instead of moaning about the ups, I took them in stride and thoroughly embraced the downs.  I passed a lot of people, including XC girls, so I knew I was running well.   The third mile was my fastest at 6:38 and I felt strong coming in for the finish.

Final time 21:11, 2nd place in my AG (award was a Brooks hat).   The cherry on the sundae is my WAVA score: 77.02%.   Movin’ on up!

So it’s a happy day, and happier still because I’ve got no races for an entire month. Woohoo!  Time to remember what I was working on before, though…oh yeah, training for a Half in May.  Hmm, might just concentrate on that now.

I woke up to a layer of snow outside, which instantly put me in anxiety mode (like I wasn’t already). I dealt with it by making coffee and immediately looking for more races in the next few weeks to make up for this one. It helped, I was in a good mood when I left the house and got in an even better one when I realized the snow hadn’t stuck to the sidewalks or paths. Whew.

I jogged over to the race start (3/4 miles away) carrying an additional light jacket with me just in case I needed it, though I ended up wearing only my UA compression mock, tights, hat and gloves – perfect. The temp was windchill 25 with 8-11mph wind (not bad) and a few flurries. My discovery this winter was that as long as I have hat and gloves, I can get away with wearing very little in a chilly race.

Speaking of comfort, last night I’d figured out what the deal is with my foot, it’s an inflamed bursa sac (basically a blister underneath the skin at the joint). So I took some moleskin and I made a little donut to go around the hot spot which worked beautifully, my foot felt great the entire race. This is a huge relief in general, worried as I was about next week’s running but I’ll be totally fine.

Anyway, I did a mile warmup with 3 strides and found my friends Matt, Marianne and Charlie (always a good time with those folks). A quick chat and then time to race.

My splits were
7:07
7:15
7:11
7:07
7:02
7:16
And whatever the last .21 was (hmmm…splits are off because I know I didn’t kick in at 9min/mile)

For those that care, my HR averaged 179 (87% HRR ) with a max of 184 (91% HRR).

Through the entire race, I was behind this friendly guy I see often on my runs who always says “hi” when we pass. He and the guy trailing him were the carrots that kept me going, so it was fun afterwards to introduce myself and admit I was the incessant wheezing he couldn’t escape.

Apres race my friends and I compared notes and ate bananas. I also had the pleasure of talking to Kev, the guy that started the Philly Runners and is creator of this crazy mile time trial I did last year. So it was one of those social mornings that make me love running all the more. As if that were possible.

Now I’m awaiting this huge-ass snow storm we’re supposed to have…8-14 inches! That means tomorrow’s a day off for sure, which I got no problem with – I just had a 4-minute PR within the span of 4 months. The ole gal deserves a day of rest.