Women Run The Cities 10 Mile Race Report!

Hi everyone! This morning I drove to Minneapolis to run in the Women Run The Cities 10 mile race. Packet pickup began at 6:30 AM and I wanted to make sure that I had a great parking place:) I scored and found a spot right on Minnehaha Ave! It was a little cooler this morning with a temerature of 42 degrees! This is the coolest temps that I have run in since early spring. I am not complaining, (Chris) I just wish that I had dressed a little warmer for the hour before the race actually started. I was freezing my butt off:)

Before the race started I ran into my high school friend Pam. Pam is the person who got me hooked on running races last year:)

In my last blog post I expressed that I would not be able to pull it together to match my time from last year. I had a great run last fall and came in with a final time of 1:23. I received a confirmation e-mail from Anderson Race Management stating that there would be pacers this year:) You all know how much I love my pacers! I decided to go with the 8:30 pacer scheduled to come in at 1:25. I figured that I could run with her until I needed to slow down and then just do my own thing. This is pacer Taren. She was my pacer for the Gopher To Badger Half Marathon in Stillwater:)

This is my view of the people in front of me about 10 minutes before the start. There were several people who made there way to the front before the start. Oh crap, the picture of the people behind me....I forgot to flipping post:( Sorry folks, I am not starting over. There were tons of people behind me. Basically, when the race started we all just moved up and took off. We did great with keeping time and ran nice and steady.

This is a little after mile one. The course was set on the roads close to Minnehaha Park. Even though it was 42 degrees at the start, I was ready to take off my jacket after five minutes. It was at this point where I realized that I forgot to start my Garmin! What is my deal? Seriously, is it my ADD coming back to haunt me? It was perfect running weather...even better than last year. Last year's temp was 62 degrees at the start. Miles two and three just buzzed by and I made a mental note that at mile four there was a hell of a hill! We ran down the hill and all was great! We were feeling awesome and the strides were so easy. At the turn around we had to look up at that crazy hill that we needed to get back up. Taren told us all what to do and we tried to get the perfect up-hill form. We cruised up the hill but my breathing was out of control. Taren gave me a few breathing tricks and with in about 45 seconds I felt great. I skipped the first two water stops...can you believe it? Mile five went by and when we got to mile six Taren said we needed to slow down. I can't believe that I did this...but I looked at her and said,"I am going to keep going at this pace." I slowly left Taren and my running pace group behind. I made a mental note to myself, just four miles left....let's see what you got! I made my way up a little roller and turned to go across this bridge. There is something about running on bridges that I love. The view was amazing and I was feeling super energized.

The sun was shining and I could see several trees on the bank of the river that were starting to change colors:) Miles eight and nine went well. Every time I looked down at my Garmin my pace remained between 7:30 and 7:50! When I saw the mile nine marker I was so excited! One freaking mile left! I ran steady and strong...I was feeling incredible! I could see the turn that led to the finish line! I had no idea what my time was going to be, I just knew that it would be under 1:25. Coming up the finisher's chute I saw the clock and I was in awe:) No freaking way...this must be a mistake...really?

After my pacer Taren came through I wanted to get a picture of us together. (She is 18 weeks pregnant and so cute:) I also thanked her for helping me with the hill and giving me great breathing recovery tricks.

I also ran into Pam again and had a picture taken with her. She did fantastic and finished in 1:14! So what was my final time?

My final time was 1:19:18! This is a 7:56 minute mile! I placed 89 out of 941 runners:) Can we say a four minute PR!!! It is amazing what cooler temps have done for me. Today my running just clicked:) I felt awesome after the run and have gained my confidence back. Today life is good:)

Happy running, biking, swimming and lifting! Cheers to you all!