Lake Minnetonka Half

What a glorious day for running!! It was near perfect conditions the whole way around - a little chilly at the start so of course I overdressed - again! And a little windy right by the water - but given that it snowed the first time I ran this in 2005 I couldn't complain. Pam and I were both a little tired so we were planning a fairly easy pace - I was thinking 1:45. I'd run the past 2 days on not yet fully recovered quads and was planning to bike this afternoon so I figured just get out and run it and have fun. And Pam had blasted a 5k in 21mins yesterday - and is supposed to be tapering for Ice Age 50! But of course we started out at sub-8 min miles and never really backed off. But boy it felt pretty tough. Not helped by a bad stomach from mile 6 to mile 9 - I was glad to see the biffy at the aid station! My quads felt heavy but the good thing was they felt pretty much the same at mile 2 and and mile 12 so I don't think I was risking any damage. Still, I'm looking forward to a massage tomorrow night. We finished up at 1:41 which was a minute slower than last year which was a minute slower than the year before - I guess that's what happens when you keep adding ultras in the preceeding weeks...

Saw quite a few people from the run club and had a cheer from Adam as Pam and I were getting ready to sprint the last 300 yards... fantastic 4th place finish for him!! And Todd (thanks for the photo!) was at the finish also aswell as a few others I have not seen in ages so it was nice to hang out in the sunshine for a while. And despite the warm conditions no run would be complete without a nice big coffee afterwards... headed over to Caribou with Pam and Paula and caught up with more of the run club folks including Debbie, Eric and Jen who are all running Fargo in 2 weeks. Good Luck!!

Met the girls at 1pm for a ride out from Lake Independence to Watertown - and finished up with that killer hill on rt. 201 to get back onto 24 - I did not need that!! But it was such a lovely day for biking and I had not seen Carrie in months so it was great to catch up. Caught a bit too much sun though - time to crack open the sunscreen again... roll on summer!

Run: 1hr41m, HR 159
Bike: 2hr, HR 130

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