When I saw that they were putting the race on again I HAD to run it again:)
Since it's a smaller race they only do awards for the top 3 women and Men but don't do awards for age divisions.
I had half a hope of placing today based on the fact that I placed #4 woman last year....It seems some fast runners have discovered the race:) When you're standing at the start and you see those participants that you just KNOW are fast...yeah, that was me today.
My goal was to run 7:30 miles (it's a bit hilly of a course) but at about 1.5 miles I saw a little girl about 13 crying so I slowed down to make sure she was OK. She said she had a side cramp so I ran with her and gave her some tips on how to stretch it out while she ran.
She was such a trooper...she didn't want to stop at all.
I found out that she is actually a sprinter and had gone to the Jr. Olympics last year- this was the longest she's ever run! I ran with her until about the 4th mile where her dad was waiting to run in with her (she's too fast for him to run the whole way :) ) then I picked up the speed a little.
I wasn't too worried though, I didn't lose more than 2 places in the women's division and I wasn't stressing.
Plus after all my excitement I managed to forget to wear my new racing flats! I also managed to forget to turn off my Garmin:)
My splits were:
Mile #1 6:49 (I was trying to not go out too fast, which was a little hard since it was down hill...I probably could have gone faster)
Mile #2 7:25, right on pace!
Mile #3 8:42 (this was where Mia was having the worst cramps)
Mile #4 9:22 Capitol Hill...sucks. The thing is once you're finished with Capitol Hill you THINK you're done with the hills, but most of Capitol Blvd is a slight uphill grade.
Mile #5 7:38
Overall pace average was 7:57 per mile.
4 comments:
That was so nice of you to help that girl out! Side cramps are no joke! Martinho was telling me the race was about twice as big as last year, and there were a lot of fast people, so it was a lot tougher than last year!
Just came across your blog... great race! Reading through your blog, looks like you've got some great races set up for the year. And I'm not sure that you need a tail wind anymore, you're speedy! :)
How sweet are you to help out the girl with the side cramps?! This is why runners are the coolest!! What other athletes could possibly be so gracious to their competition? Love it! Great job... next time remember your sweet new racing shoes, girl!!! :)
Jess rerunrunning
You are awesome.
Also, how do you stretch side-cramps while running?
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