Notes
Didn't feel very good racing today but had an absolute blast! I went out too fast the first mile, got caught up in the 5k runners and let them carry me along. Oh well, the excitement, the fun, it was definitely too fast but I don't think that was particularly detrimental. About 1.5 in I felt a tightness in my calf. Iv had a little bit of calf cramping the last few weeks, but nothing that was severe enough to cause any sort of worry. By the time I crested the top of Twin Springs I had to stop to work out the terrible cramp in my calf. Stretched for about 30 seconds and walked for about 30 seconds to try to loosen it up. It was enough to allow me to move again so I hopped in with a few 40 (ish) year old men and ran the backside back down. All of twin springs Rd., the campground, and 5th Ave was a struggle to keep my calf under control, I debated calling it quits, but I love to race and opted to give it a few more minutes. Ice cave road was rough, got passed by a few more men and Lauren Mordini. My guess is I was hitting about 8min pace at that point. Maybe slower. I think I'm happy I don't know. Somehwere on Middle Palisades it started to stretch out and get better, and I was able to hold a decent pace through middle and lower Pali. The last two miles were kinda rough, but I enjoyed running in my favorite place to run.
It was fun to test my fitness for real for the first time in a couple months, although I hope I am more fit than I showed today. I think I felt some soreness left over from a couple bike rides this week, although Twin Springs definitely has the potential to chew somebody up and spit them back out even on a good day!
Excited to race two weeks from today after a couple more weeks of fitness and also a little bit of a taper prior to race day!