GREAT run! Tuesday I somehow injured my ankle and in compensating for it, strained my back! I was so concerned I might not even be able to run, but I'd cut my mileage back to just a mile Friday and Saturday so I could rest up (without breaking my running streak that started November 28). Everything felt great! My ankle didn't bother me once. My back started to twinge a little on mile 9, but some ibuprofen and stopping to give it a good stretch took care of it.

This was the first race that I used the Galloway Method. It was strange to stop and walk after only a mile. I was careful and pulled over to the side before I stopped and used those walk breaks to take pictures, hydrate, and stretch. I ran a mile and walked 1 minute on every mile until the last three. I ran those in. Even with the walk breaks I still ran a sub 10 min mile, which for today with the hills, was really good.

Not a thing! I was well dressed in three layers; running top, technical shirt from the Seattle marathon, and jacket. I brought enough to drink and passed up most drink stations. I used one gel and two Succeed caps. I think Nancy was right, I needed more electrolytes on my long runs. I didn't push too hard and using the Galloway method I actually did faster splits on my last three miles. Even Toady, my wonderful iPod, didn't poop out on me. I had U2, Jack Johnson, and Tori Amos accompanying me the entire run.

As we hit the home stretch, the last .25 mile, I was talking to a girl in her 20s. We laughed about how after that run we could probably eat ANYTHING we wanted to for the rest of the day! I'm sure we burned WAY more calories than a flat race. We both sped up and I paced with her, really hitting it and passing her in the last 300 feet. I ran across the finish line and was surprised to see 2:09:58 out of the corner of my eye...certainly THAT couldn't be right! A child handed me a tulip and I thanked him, then someone handed me a medal and I said "Whoa! That's right! We get medals! I forgot!! Thank you!" I found Roy and hugged and kissed him. I grabbed a banana and a bagel and some fizzy electrolyte drink thing. Did some good deep stretches for my back, and gentle stretches for everything else. We listened to some music and I threw on some warm clothes. The route was COLD!


Hills...there were hills and where there weren't hills, there were hills. And then there were hills. Hills hills and more hills. Did I mention the hills?


The only issues I had with the race is that we drove three hours on Saturday to pick up packets (round trip) and then discovered I could have picked it up on Sunday morning. The website indicated that packets HAD to be picked up on Saturday. It was also very difficult to find things. There were no directions to either the start or finish line. Shuttles were provided, but for out of towners it just had hotel names with no directions to the hotels! No shuttle back to start line was kind of strange, but didn't affect me. However, course support was great. While not all the roads were closed, the traffic was well controlled and I didn't have to stop or slow once. (I ran a 12k where we had to wait for a cross light...not cool)