Notes
Animal Run
Rode with Ginger and Bernie. Got there in plenty of time, and they had my entry, though mailed only two days ago. Sat and relaxed for a half hour or so, watching people and dogs. Quite a few good looking dogs. Not saying the people weren't good looking. Went for a warmup jog of about a half mile, didn't feel warm, so went back into the Legion hall and put on headband and gloves.
Got in the bathroom line, and when I was done it was time to line up. During the first quarter mile, I tried to get into the 2-2 breathing cadence, but my body still wanted to do the 3-2. Only after I started to expend some effort on the first hill heading east out of town did I really find my rhythm. I wanted to put out a good effort, to tap into all the miles I've been logging, but I wasn't necessarily shooting for a PR. The long inclines could be brutal to someone who's not in shape, but I felt plenty of strength; not saying they were easy. Passed maybe a dozen people on the out; then on the return there were only a couple more to pass. One woman (Mary Amen?), who had been in my sights on the out, caught up with me on the return and paced me for the last two miles. Pretty good and challenging company. I wasn't going to kick past her at the end; that would have been unchivalrous. Would I have had the kick? I think so, but I was happy with the pace we had, and I was content for her to finish a second ahead of me. I think think I had another mile in me, so this could have been my 10K pace, had I wanted to go all out. It was still a pretty good effort - five seconds behind my previous PR. Happy with the race.
After the race, we stuck around for the prize drawing. They had something like 75 prizes, and had to draw about five names per prize to find a person who was still there, so odds were excellent for those of us who stuck around. I won a Chiroflow waterbase pillow, an LRC $10 certificate, and a water bottle.
Post-race, PTT is a tiny bit sore, but tolerable. Feel I could even run this evening if I didn't have other stuff to do.
Back on Monday: Just discovered that this was a 24 second PR. Cool.