All I can say is that I completely surprised myself today. I made a goal to not let my Garmin tell me how fast to run, so I didn't look at it. I went by feel, and I felt amazing! I woke up at 4:15 and got ready. I went with my sister, brother in law, and two friends. We caught the first buses and waited around the start for over an hour, but I had good company so it was fun. We started late, but I'm not sure what time. I decided to start in the very front so I could see all the women I was competing against. I'm so glad I did this, I think it gave me a good advantage to race! Gun went off and I tried to hold back some. At about mile 2, there were aprox. 15 women ahead of me. One by one I worked on them till there were only 3 left in front of me. At my 10k split I had a PR of 38:39. I was pumped but scared. I didn't dare to look at my watch or do the calculations so I just kept going. Somewhere around mile 7 Julie Hughs (1st winner) passed me and then I was 5th.The first 8 miles I felt like I was sprinting and started to worry I might have been going to fast but decided to stay up with it. I knew I was on pace for a great time and I kept saying my mantra, "world class", don't ask me why, but it helped. Miles 12 and 13 my legs were pretty tired but lungs felt great at least. I felt like a shuffler. With 800M to go, I saw my family and friends cheering me on! But I didn't go any faster:) Finally finished in a time of 1:23.45 (6:24 min/mi), around 30th in overall male and female, 4th in Open women division, (5th counting 1 masters woman), and 1st in age group (25-29). I recieved the Elite 100 medal, shirt and a large plaque! Splits were 6:37, 6:20, 6:23, 6:15, 6:14, 6:16, 6:41, 6:29, 6:38, 6:39, 6:45, 6:55, and the last 1.1 I didn't pick up accurately due to not stopping my watch at the finish line and the GSP going in and out of signal through the canyon causing the course to show shorter so, it was messed it a bit. Went home and took an ice bath with my sister in our racing clothes:) and rolled out my muscles. Great race for me today, maybe my best ever for not only time, but feeling. I learned a valuable lesson...don't let Garmin dictate my race! Best choice to date. I'm elated:)
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