Snowman Stampede!

I'm so tired and my legs hurt and I can barely move but it was worth it - win number 5 at the RRCA state 10 mile championship, also known as the Snowman Stampede.

Honestly, race morning I was just NOT feelilng it. I was very unmotivated to race any distance, much less 10 miles which is quite a bit longer than the 5k's I've been doing! After my warm up and a few strides I felt a little more ready to go, but not much. The good part about that was it helped me stay conservative in the first half. The plan was 6:10 for the first 5, 6:00 for the next 4, and then push as hard as I could for the last mile. What actually happened was 6:10 for the first 5, then 6:15 and dwindling the entire last half. I knew about all the rollers on the course, but forgot that on the way out to the turnaround there was a net downhill. So on the way back? Net uphill. And I felt it! I got over my disinterest in racing and found some sort of motivation but couldn't do much with it.

Maybe it was racing on cement, maybe I just wasn't prepared for the distance, maybe it was the net uphill plus slight headwind, maybe I was just flat out exhausted from the previous races... Whatever it was, I hurt all over. I'm kind of bad about staying in the game mentally when I get tired and last year I totally gave up around mile 7 (I had also started way too fast that year... as per usual). This time around I really tried to focus and push. I got down to around 6:30 at some points but got back to 6:15. For a second or two I thought about backing off but I looked over my shoulder and thought I saw the second place girl on my tail and realized how much I wanted to win. I was gagging (and threw up a tiny bit - so so so gross!) but by the time we got to 9.5 or so I knew I had it and finished up on some super muddy hills - which was by far the coolest part of the race! (this is around mile 7? maybe? right before I got pukey...)

(and here's the start, with the men's winner Ewen North - in the red - leading right off the bat)



I thought my time was kind of crappy. 62:43. I wanted to be under 61, thinking that last year I ran 61:23. But. That was false. 61:23 was from a different race later on in the year when I was in way better shape. In actuality, I ran something like 63 and some change and it turns out my time this year was a course record! Such a relief! I really needed to hear that, since my time was a full 2:00 slower than I wanted.

Maybe I'm weird, but I had to cry a little on the way home. I felt like I really struggled on the course and was just completely relieved and thankful that I pulled off another win. I'm really not sure how I'm doing this... But it's making me tired!! I'm looking forward to a break from racing for the next two weeks. I'm completely in love with running races but I'm very quickly realizing that love and my desire to win gets kinda dull if I do it TOO much.

Runnin' O' The Green is next. This one terrifies me. It's so hilly! Really glad that I'll be at least a tad more rested for it and hoping for a nice strong race.

Results from the race are here: http://www.roost.com/app/index.php/public/roostbar?bid=136324&k=f500e965b1f3c7b3e7cf3f4efeea3d31&roostBDI=136324 Check out how big this race has become over the past 6 years!! Also check out Tera Moody's event record - this used to be on a way more challenging course and her time from it is just nuts.