Halloween Highway

This morning's 4 mile race went great! I woke up early to head to San Francisco for another DSE race.  The route was an out and back--down the Great Highway and then back up to Sloat. At the start, I went out pretty hard because I didn't want to be trapped behind people on the narrow path.  I felt awesome during the first mile and had to reel myself in to run a 7:21 mile. Of course, this meant that I wasn't listening my coach, who'd suggested that I start at 7:40 pace and then go-negative ;O

I felt good on the second mile (7:35) and tried to enjoy the gentle, rolling hills along the Great Highway. At this point, I realized that a few women were running right around my pace.  But mile 3 felt harder, and I was huffing and puffing. I eeked out a 7:46 mile and could tell that my legs weren't too happy with me....On the 4th and last mile, I just hung on--7:50--and worked on pulling myself closer to the women in front of me.  It felt like a lonnnnng mile, and I was very ready for this Halloween "trick" to be finished!!  I kicked it in just a bit at the end, finishing in 30:40 & getting 5th place overall woman.  I think I'm getting addicted to the finisher's ribbons ;)  Now it's time for treats & more treats, as I am a pumpkin & candy addict  :P 

A couple reflections:  My average pace was 7:39, and now I should work on starting smarter in races....the going out fast probably hurt me a tad in this race. If I'd started under control, I may have been less of a pumpkin in the last 1.5 miles. Going to races with friends & meeting other runners at races is very, very motivating. So, I'm happy that I'm now in the habit of racing every month or so, instead of just a couple times a year.