Ready. Set....DONE!

I think that is the best way to describe a two mile race.  Never having run when I was a kid, I've never run a shorter race than two-miles and that's what it feels like to me.

I always need a longer warm-up than I think.  This time I didn't have time to do some of the dynamic stretches nor hill bounding that I've done in the past to warm up. Oh well.  I've done the Winter Grand Prix series Super Jock n Jill offers the past couple years but this year I could only make it to this weekend's past race.  bummer.  It is just a lot of fun and 2-miles hard is not a big deal.  Quick recovery and I can usually still get a pretty good long run in the next day. In fact see photo of Coal Creek Falls in full falls.  Fantastic 10 miles on trails. 

The weather was good albeit warm for January.  I wore shorts for the first time running in quite a while.  that didn't mean the course wasn't a bit sloppy in places however.  We've had a lot of rain and there were some good and muddy puddles.  I stomped through like usual and made some time.  I always like living up the PuddleThumper status. 

I'm listening to some coaching going on around me as we wait for the starting gun.

"Get out and run hard.  See what you feel like at the mile mark and either push it or just steady on in."

Seems reasonable.  and better than some of the comments of parents shouting to their kids running in the race. 

Go!

And before I knew it, I was pulled out at a 6:15 pace.  Ooops!  No worries, settle down and this race is so short that it'll be fine and it was.  Before the mile mark, I passed my usual running reference point.  My running reference point is a well known local running star who is in her mid-60's and I am always happy when I finish usually just ahead of her. 

She stuck with me though and just finished a few seconds behind me.  Hey!  Maybe she was using me as a reference point.  Ha!

14:39 watch time which is a fair bit slower than last year's race of 13:58.  With that race, I was a month past a hard 5k effort and had done some appropriate speed work.  I've chatted with my coach and am testing faster paces in workouts lately and sure enough, i can run a lot harder.  Somehow I forgot that over the past year.  I do my easy runs so easily and that's great but there is a time to push it.  I'm looking forward to this too.