http://www.spiritofsurvival.com/
A nice, small, fairly local 5K, 10K, HM and marathon race that I ran last year. It runs through a federal wildlife refuge with open range buffalo, elk, and other wildlife. I enjoyed it so much last year that I decided to run it again this year even though I'm only 3 weeks out from the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25. Opie (from KR) signed up also, so we met at 5:15 AM to carpool down with the intention of arriving early and doing an extended warmup run. We arrived at 6:30 and picked up our chips and bibs; then the rain came on, so we just sat inside the lodge and waited for it to let up. It finally turned to a mist about 7:30, so we did a quick 1 mile warmup getting back just in time for the anthem and announcements. Lined up for the race and saw some other running buddies and visited a bit as there was some delay in the start.
My planned pace for the race was to shoot for around 8:15/mile to the halfway, then increase to 8:00/mile for the trip back. Weather was near perfect at 58 degrees, light east breeze, and occasional light mist.
Splits:
Mile 1 - 8:12
Mile 2 - 8:09
Mile 3 - 8:06
Mile 4 - 8:08
Mile 5 - 7:53
Mile 6 - 8:14
Mile 7 - 7:54
Mile 8 - 7:23
Mile 9 - 7:58
Mile 10 - 7:39
Mile 11 - 7:48
Mile 12 - 7:43
Mile 13 - 8:24 (I thought only the US Marines put a huge hill at the end of a race)
Mile 13.2 - 1:52
Garmin time: 1:45:30
Chip time: not posted yet
Extremely pleased with my results. A new PR by almost 9 minutes. This race was alot hillier than I remembered from last year, senility must be setting in.
After the race, we drove up to Meers (an old goldmining town) and had the local specialty of a Meersburger (huge hamburger that fills a goldmining placer pan) along with peach pie a la mode.
An excellent day, thanks for reading.
Paul
Paul's blog
Carolyn
I hammered down the trail, passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.
denise
Nice PR!
I was planning on running that marathon before my other issues. My son is stationed at Altus Air base so I would have run a marathon and had a chance to see my grand daughter at the same time.
Larry
Chumbawamba: I get knocked down But I get up again You're never going to keep me down
Nice going Paul! Contrats on a huge PR! Nice negative split.
I, too, had this race in my sights several months ago. But did not dedicate the appropriate training and had to let it go. Maybe next year.
Nice race, pfriese. Congrats on the big PR and meeting with opie and other friends.
TomS
Trails are hard!
Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.
#artbydmcbride
Runners run
Good luck at MCM!
Excellent! That massive PR has got to have you feeling good heading into the MCM.
Congratulations and best of luck in DC!
Be safe. Be kind.
Marathon Maniac #957
Wow! A 9-minute PR on a hilly course - well done! This bodes well for you upcoming MCM.
Hey, if you see Opie again soon, tell him I said hello, 'kay?
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
Renee the dog
GOALS 2012: UNDECIDED
GOALS 2011: LIVE!!!