Freihofer's recap - 2012

For the third year in a row, I ran the Freihofer's Run for Women.

Felice and I were talking yesterday how we felt like this year's race was a bit of a buzz kill after all the marathon hype from the beginning of May. A lot of our running friends weren't running the race at all. And to top it off, the forecast called for rain, rain, and more rain.

Sharon, me, and Felice in our secret parking spot.

Because of the rain, I decided to go without Brian and the kids. Felice, Sharon and I drove to the race together and we parked in the same spot that we did last year. (I have a secret spot on a side street, so we can just scoot out and not get caught in traffic when we are finished.) We arrived at the race and ran into some other running friends. It was drizzling, and we made a quick bathroom stop and then met in the usual meeting spot.

Felice, me, Sharon, Darlene, and Gail 

After that, it was time to line up. We ended up in the front of our corral, and we were pretty close to the start line. That's always a bonus because then once the race starts, we don't get caught up in the mish-mosh of people and I can maintain an even pace. Anyway - the horn blew, and off we went. Sharon and I stuck together going up the dreaded hill. When we got to the top, we separated. And weirdly enough, the rain stopped.

I was running fast and hit mile 1 at a 7:48 pace. Wowsers. That is really fast for me. Really fast. Too fast. I knew I would never be able to keep the pace up. I kept going and I realized that my breathing was a little raspy. Thankfully I had taken my inhaler. I didn't realize how humid it was despite the rainy weather.

I hit mile 2 and my pace was at 8:22. I really wanted to PR - so I kept going. I tried to push those crazy thoughts out of my head how lovely it would be to stop and walk for 20 seconds just to catch my breath. But - I didn't. I kept going.

I hit the last half mile and gave it all I had, as I ran down the hill. When I hit the finish line, I knew I had hit a PR. I was so happy. And I was so very happy to be done.

Official time: 26.39.
Yup. That's a course PR, and an overall PR for me. I am pretty darn happy about that.
I was 667 out of 3,892 runners.
I was 76 out of 453 women in my age group.
Overall pace was 8:35.

To say I am thrilled is an understatement. I wasn't sure how I would do going into today's race. I wasn't sure how my knee would be. And I really wasn't trained for this race. I hadn't done any speed work at all. But, I kept telling myself that I just ran 26 miles a few weeks ago. So - I should be able to spit out 3 miles with no problem. And I did.