Run For Ryan House, A Success!

What a day for a race! I woke up at 4:00 am and ate my rice/rice milk/honey mixture. I had some coffee and some Gatorade to complete my healthy breakfast. Lol! We headed over to Mark and Terri’s as they live pretty close to the start line and we wanted to go together.
Once we arrived at the race, Terri and I went for our 2 mile warm-up. When we returned, Matt was nowhere to be found! He had my race shoes, D Tag, and the race was starting in 10 minutes! Ahhhh!!!! I had our good friend Rick, who was announcing the race, call for him over the mic. I was a little frantic (shocking) but Matt and I found each other and I was able to change my shoes with plenty of time. About 5 minutes before the gun, I realized that I really had to pee and the line was so long, I would never make it in time. Coach found me a different restroom and I was able to run there and back with minutes to spare. That was a lifesaver!
At the start line, Rick started giving the shout-outs. This run was very competitive on the female side so I started to get a little nervous.  Sally Meyerhoff was there (and won!). She is a 2:35 marathoner and an incredible runner. I am in awe of her! Susan Loken was there as well. She is getting back into training to qualify for the Olympic Trials. She has already run in the 2004 and 2008 trials. I was so happy to meet her! Katie Ellis was also there as a headliner athlete. Katie is an AMAZING triathlete, like world class amazing! She is just the nicest person too! I knew it would be a great race!

Me, Coach John, and Alanna pre-race

Off we go!

Mile 1- 6:17- Yay! I didn’t start out too fast!

Mile 2- 6:36
Mile 3-6:24
Mile 4- 6:46
Mile 5-7:11 (pretty bummed about this split, it was uphill and with a strong headwind, but I shouldn’t have been that off my goal pace)
Mile 6-6:52
Mile 7-6:34
Mile 8-5:56
Mile 9- 5:39
Mile 10-5:53
Mile 11-6:03
Mile 12- 5:50
Mile 13-5:54
.1-5:38 pace

Official Finish time – 1:22:35   6:18 per mile average pace.

In hindsight I wished I had pushed more on the hills, and I should have been a little faster on the downhills. Easier said now that it is over though! However, I felt it was a great race because:

1.    I thought about keeping control of my form the entire time and not ‘collapsing’.
2.    I used rhythmic breathing to try to stay calm and focused.
3.    My back doesn’t hurt today which means I wasn’t tensing up.
4.    My stomach wasn’t in knots at the finish line.
5.    I was second female, third overall finisher.
6.    I PR’d on a tougher course.
7.    My new ST 4’s were perfect!
8.    Got to meet up with some other fantastic female runners- Katie and Susan!
Race results:
http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?rsID=89788

With MWC after I crossed. He was able to make it to mile 10 to offer some encouragement! Boy did that help!

Congrats to my amazing friends Terri, Mark, and DK who all placed in their age groups and ran amazing races on a very high  mileage week. My dear friends Ken, Jan, and Jim also ran the 5k. Great job and big congrats to them as well. I feel so lucky to have such amazing runner friends!

DK!!

Mark A finishing strong- next up, LA Marathon!

Terri!

Stong finsh, Yay Ter!

Congrats to Coach John who WON the 5k with a time of 16:58!! I wonder what it feels like to be THAT fast?

John Reich (MWC!) ready to cross the finish line for the 5k

Holy smoke!

I really had a great time at the race. It was so organized- however, with running brain I had no idea where to go once I entered DC Ranch! Lol! Matt said “But it was an out and back course, how could you not know where to go?!” I know,  I am just not very observant! The post-race food was amazing and they were giving out Myoplex like it was going out of style. I LOVE that stuff!  So thanks Ryan House for the amazing race. Count me in for next year!

Fellow Brooks IDer John and I. He was second male, 4th overall finisher. Great job John!