Basically, this forced me to get in my long run. Not that I thought I wouldn't (mostly), but hey.
The race was down in Castle Rock and holy crap has that town changed so much from when I worked there 8-ish years ago. Mostly in that there are at least two new Starbucks to bring the total up to four (not including Target/grocery store locations). Geez.
Anyway, got to the race site early (as always), saw my Skirt sister Becky who was volunteering (different 3W ambassador friend), caught a killer sunrise ... hung out waiting for the start. I'm also pretty sure I hit up the porta-potties twice, too.
Low key start, but we went off at I think 6:30ish.
The race was mostly on a trail system in Castle Rock. First mile seemed way too fast but I knew we were also heading downhill (or so it seemed). Then the mile paces got a lot slower very quickly.
9:33, 10:39, 11:13
I had passed quite a few people early on, but many were passing me back. I was run/walking as needed, but not on a strict schedule or as dictated by HR like I usually do for my long runs (as this was a race, I decided to "race" it and not go by HR). Struggled a bit coming up to the turnaround.
10:56, 11:04, 11:37
I had been leapfrogging with one woman quite a bit, but I got ahead of her pretty solidly after the turn. It might be because we were mostly going back downhill, but I actually started to feel pretty good for a while.
10:33, 9:58, 10:22
... and then I didn't. I started slowing. I was still passing people, but it wasn't as consistent. The shade started disappearing on the trails as the sun rose higher, and it also got hotter. As the elevation climbed back up ... the wheels came off.
10:52, 10:48, 11:48, 13:10
See? The wheels came off bad. The woman I had been leapfrogging with during the first half of the course that I thought I left in the dust for good after the turnaround? Yeah, nope, she caught me sometime late in mile 12 as I was struggling to survive.
The course is also super cruel in that it finishes up a hell of a hill before flattening out into a school parking lot. Yeah, I walked up that hill and then ran it into the finish as best I could.
final bit :46.8
Photo courtesy 3W Races.
Final Stats:
Time: 2:23:15
15/26 AG (30-39)
53/93 gender
113/171 overall
About 12 minutes faster than Three Creeks earlier this year ... with me not sick but also a lot more fatigue in the legs. Whatever. As a paid training run, I'll take it.
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