ENDURrun Stage 3: 30K Cross Country

Last night, I got to bed at a reasonable time, but for some unknown reason, I woke up several times in the night. I saw the clock at 2-something, multiple times between 3:00 and 4:00, and again at 5:00. I didn’t feel too tired when my alarm did go off at 6:00, but it was still frustrating to not have the good sleep I was hoping for.

Pat picked me up this morning and we arrived at Bechtel Park about a half hour before race start, which allowed a bit of time to get ourselves ready, chat with some other runners, and get to the start line without having too much time to get too cold (it was quite cool and windy).

My plan heading into today’s stage, which is a 5K loop run 6 times, was 31 minute laps. This would have me finish in 3 hours and 6 minutes, 4 minutes faster than last year. I wanted to be conservative, with the first lap nice and easy, and hopefully pick it up a wee bit and maintain consistent laps.

I felt very good out of the start, holding back and not going out too quick. I didn’t care if people passed me and I just kept to the plan and ran what felt nice and comfortable. Starting about half way through the first lap, I started running with or near Dusan, a man from my running group with Runners’ Choice who was running as part of a relay team today. He said he was hoping for sub 3 hours today (and that he did!). I was a bit concerned about sticking with him, but I felt like I wasn’t pushing it too hard, so I kept up. As we passed the start/finish line after Lap 1, I saw the clock and it started with 28. Hmmm… would I be able to keep this up?

Laps 2, 3, and 4 went by and I stuck with Dusan, but on lap 5 I went away on my own. I finished up the final 2 laps and crossed the finish line in 2:50:20, over 20 minutes faster than last year! I finished 2nd female today, but will stay 3rd in the cumulative results for the week so far.

I wore my Garmin today, but I was pretty good at not looking at it. I wanted to be able to look at my splits after getting home. I was pleasantly surprised at how consistent I was and was very happy to see that my first lap was my slowest, the second lap was my second slowest, and there was less than a minute between my slowest lap and my fastest lap. Today felt really good.

I was too cold after the finish today to really take any photos, but I did take one of my food. I ate a LOT today. As I told Chris Duke a couple times on the course… I was hungry.

Tomorrow’s stage is in the evening, so we have the luxury of a bit of extra recovery time after today’s tough stage. I am definitely looking forward to not setting an alarm when I go to bed tonight and look forward to a relaxing first part of the day tomorrow.

Great run today, everyone!