I was remembering this race last year... and I couldn't remember it being super hilly. I remember there were a few hills, but nothing crazy. I remember I was pretty much a wuss for this race last year, and walked a lot more than I should, and could, have.
Let me tell myself something. Self, it IS hilly. VERY hilly. It is a really rough course. Last year's time was 1:10:57. I wanted to beat that time; anything shorter than that would be great.
I ran until about mile 2, and then took a couple of very short walk breaks. The funniest part was at mile 3. I was slowly running along, and heard very loud, hard footsteps behind me. Thinking it was probably a 30-40 year old, 6 foot tall or more man, I was ok with being passed. Instead, it was a 100 pound, 5'4", 70ish year old man. He did great, and he sure passed me! At about mile 4, I said something to another runner, and then he and I ran the rest of the race together. We talked about all the races we've done, and he told me how he'd run the Detroit marathon a few times. Running with him pushed me through the last of the race, and a couple of times, I started to walk on a couple of hills, and he said, "shorten your steps!" It really did help.
I beat last year's time by exactly two minutes and thirty seconds. I am very happy with that. I enjoyed the race (even though I'll probably be sore in the morning), and look forward to beating my time next year. Maybe next year I'll be able to do the whole thing without any walk breaks. We shall see.
Distance: 6.2
Time: 1:08:27
Pace: 11:01
I had a hard time getting pics. I wanted Frieda to pose with me, but she is not very good at sitting still:
Aww, Frieda is such a cutie! You're not bad either. ;)
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