All I wanted to do was average 8:XX pace. I started running, and my wave, women under 50, took off!
There were some FAST ladies here. Kim was ahead of me. I looked at my watch and saw 7:20. I backed off, and looked behind me. There were maybe 10 runners behind me. Crazy fast!
I made it to the first turnaround pretty quickly, ran back past the start line, and headed to the second turn-around.
It seemed pretty long, but before I knew it, I was climbing that dang hill up into transition. Up 100 ft in the last half mile. It isn't huge, but it feels like it.

Train more before hand?

I really need to do some brick workouts with a few transitions in them. I fumble around a lot.
The girl next to me left her bike pump right behind my bike, and then on my run out, two girls cut me off and started walking.

Got out of transition, and started going. And soon, I checked my GPS. I was going 15 miles per hour, and I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere despite trying very hard. Soon, the road flattened and I realized that I was climbing... that was why I was going slow!
So, I pushed. I passed Kim, I hit the turnaround. I got tired. Kim passed me. I reminded myself that my plan was to hammer. I almost wiped out at the second turnaround back by transition. I told myself that the race was half over and I needed to get moving!
I pushed the up-hills and I pushed the downhills. I realized that I was doing those well, but I subconsciously slacked on the flats. So, I pushed harder on the flats. I passed Kim again, and came into transition a little ahead of her.

I have no idea.

I'm absolutely ecstatic with my average pace. I guess 4 weeks of hills is a BIG step in the right direction!

Sat down to put my shoes on. When I did my mini practice Du, my calves cramped putting my shoes on standing up. I didn't want that to happen.

My plan was to sprint this one like crazy. I went extra hard on the downhills knowing that the killer hill was waiting for me before the finish line.
Apparently, this pace was all I had left!
I didn't walk up the hill, even though I really wanted to.
I could barely breathe coming up to the finish line. My throat felt closed up.

For the first time, I was asked if I needed medical help at the end. I promised I was ok and just needed to catch my breath. I walked around a bit, and then headed home.

Went back for awards and claimed my spot at Worlds!


Low run training volume.