Running out the Cobwebs

First race of the (pre) season is done and I am not even really sore on this, the day after. We decided to jump into a running race (Snowman Stampede 10-miler at Chatfield State Park) yesterday because it had simply been too long since we let our competitive juices flow and since I started training more seriously again in January, I was kind of eager to see where my running was at. I didn't have expectations but knew the CR for this 10-miler was 1:04 and change, something within my reach, since I ran sub 1:03 at last year's Park to Park 10-miler. I didn't know the course at all for yesterday's race and when the RD told us there were several spots on the course that were "icy, be real careful", my thoughts quickly changed to "just get a good run in and try not to slip".

We got a decent warm-up in with several pit stops (gotta remember to reduce the caffeine intake on race morning, yikes!) and after debating for a good 10min of whether to wear shorts or capris (I went with capris, would have been fine in either), I was ready to go, complete with my Sportbeans run singlet making its first appearance. We toed the line with the 5-mile runners as well, making for some interesting pacing the first 2.5miles. I found myself running comfortably with the lead group of women, including Tera Moody, who has run 2.32 in the marathon. First mile was passed in 5:58, oops! 9 more miles to go.

I knew it was only a matter of time before she would pull away from me and I'd never see her again. I stayed in second place until around mile 4 when another speedy runner girl passed me and never looked back. B stayed behind me until mile 4 when he passed me and I let him go. Since I had no idea what the course was like, I wanted to run cautious in case there was some big hill somewhere, waiting to surprise me. Sure enough, the smooth sailing was soon over as we traversed super sketchy territory for the next few miles, making me slow my pace significantly as to not wipe out on all the icy spots covering the paths. The winds picked up as well, so my pace certainly wasn't picking up.

Around mile 7 or so, I caught back up to B and passed him. And just like the warning heeded to us at the start, by mile 8, the path became ridiculous and I came to several complete stops, trying to maneuver around the various frozen puddles and black ice covering the path. Luckily, for most parts I was able to run on the muddy grass next to the path, which was reminiscent of my xc running days, actually kinda fun. But I am certainly no gifted trail runner, so I lost tons of time to the second girl during that time. I somehow still managed a 6:11 last mile. Came across the line as third female, in 1:01.54, a full minute faster than at last summer's 10-miler, and breaking the existing CR by over 2 minutes, and only having the third fastest time of the day. Despite the somewhat silly conditions on the course, I can't complain about a new PR(breaking my sea level PR at altitude), especially in February. And I got a new coffee travel mug out of the thing, so definitely a good day! :)