CHILL IN THE HILLS, REVISITED

Since my Thanksgiving Half got scrapped (hip flexor injury) and I hadn't run a race since October, I decided to bite the bullet and run the hills today (if you recall, I ran them once 3 years ago during a January heat wave, then resigned myself to just volunteering at the event the past two years because the course was so hard).

My nerves were jumping (as they always are before races), but since I really had no idea what to expect from myself (it's taken me 2 months to get back to feeling like myself while running and I hadn't even attempted speedwork since October), I didn't put too much pressure on myself. I figured I could at least beat my previous course time (since that was set after I'd only been back to running for a year), and I would have been happy with that. But at the last minute, some of us from our running group threw a team together and I decided that I had to give it my all for them. I was watching my splits throughout the race and felt happy with them, and when I crested the final, big hill (the worst one on the course) at mile 5.2 and realized I had just a mile to go and 12 minutes to get a course PR (plenty of time), I knew I had to suck it up and get to the finish as fast as I could and aim for a distance PR too. Jay and the kids had surprised me at the bottom of that big hill and it was so great (and uplifting) to see them there. They were at the top of the final rise before the finish too (they'd driven over after I'd passed by them) and Jay's loud screams helped push my tired, shaky legs around that last turn and into the chute. I grabbed a 53:11 (I ran a 57:53 here in 2013, and my current 10K PR from Run Thru History of 54:37 was set back in March of 2014) so this gave me an almost 1.5 minute PR (which is actually a pretty good drop for a 10K!) and first in my age group! Our team got second place (out of two), but the first place team had the overall female winner on it, and as you can see from the official results below, she finished almost 10 minutes before me... They averaged the top three finishers for team times, so my time didn't even count (Tank, Jennifer, and Francine all finished within a minute ahead of me), but knowing that it might have helped push me during the race.

It was a great race and I'm so glad I went and ran it hard! The after party was fun, our group's tailgate was fun, and Jay and the kids and I enjoyed a yummy lunch at Martin's afterward with a bunch of other runners we know. By the time we got home (well after our normal lunch time), I was exhausted. I took a hot salt bath, was spoiled with a massage, and was then allowed to nap (and 2.5 hours later, I awoke to happy kids watching movies with daddy and the sun having already set...) Even so, I probably won't run it next year - those hills HURT and I'll be paying for this effort for a few days!

Tank and his stash of Michelob Ultra at the awards ceremony. Don't worry Jenny, I brought my own craft brew to enjoy post-race!

Team 2: RWOP (Jennifer, Francine, Tank, and I)

Kristi (overall female winner) and her speedy kids, all with their own 1st Place chili bowls!

They lumped the 65-and-up guys into one group (all other age groups were split by 5's) and Mack took home 1st Place (he's 71, and even though he took it easy due to racing The Mississippi Blues Half Marathon last weekend, he still finished in under an hour and beat all the other OP guys!)

In fact, nobody in our group went home empty handed...

I think we need to have a chili eating party one of these days!

(Once home, the kids ran out to swing while Jay and I unloaded the car and walked Buster.)

Superman-style swinging!