So much for starting at 7:30 pace... Pam and I went out at 7 flat and stayed there for a few miles... until we hit those hills! And if we thought they were bad on the first loop... well, they near killed me on the second. But it was a fun race and great to feel relatively strong for at least the first 10 miles or so just a week after the 50K. I finished in 1:52:20 about 20 seconds behind Pam - and I suspect she could have left me sooner than the final mile :)
That's 7:15 pace so I'm happy to be able do that in early April with Grandma's still several weeks away. There's no way I could have held that pace for another 10 miles today but hopefully more tempo and interval training, not to mention a decent taper, and it might just come together for my goal of 3:12 (7:19 pace).
As well as a 25K PR (ok, I've only ever done that distance on the trails before...), I hit a 10M PR at 72:12. Just missed my Half Marathon PR at 1:35:13 (the last half of Grandma's in '07 was 1:35:04).
Carrie and Patty ran also. And it was great to see some of the trail running folks out there - Joe Z (representing TC running co. along with several other speedy guys), John S, Steve Q... as well as Jenny and Guy, and several others I know from races and/or blogs. And the choc chip cookies at the finish - yes Susan, they did live up to their reputation!
Celebrated with my first ice-bath of the year. It felt great once I got in. Definitely helped. My legs went from tight and achy to relaxed and refreshed. I'm sure there'll be residual pain tomorrow but not as bad as otherwise. Stretched a fair bit right after the race and some more when I got home so that should help also.
Afton in the morning for a few (easy) hours on the trails, followed by relaxation and good conversation with the crew to celebrate Jeffrey's b'day. I had great intentions of actually baking something but the day seemed to disappear on me. Then again, Kowalski's bakery does a better job than I ever could...
