I wasn't really focusing on this race with as much intensity as the previous XC races this season. Perhaps that was because I just wasn't as nervous for this one. I've proved to myself that I can race faster than prior years; I'm in the middle of my hard training and have been tired from it recently, and we weren't going to have a full team. Then, we got the e-mail that we had 5 gals! It didn't hit me that now I had pressure to run fast until I walked to registration this morning. "They are counting on me to get as many places as possible in the end," I thought. Nervousness ensued. I saw one teammate and we warmed up together, but we didn't see any more until about 15 minutes before the race. Only 2 more. We didn't have a 5th. So, the race started and the pressure was off... all of us.
Garin is pretty hilly in the middle miles. You start out in a valley and after about a half mile, the course climbs until the mile mark, then there is a slight downhill until a hairpin turn that takes you up a steep incline that eases out, brings you into a dip and then takes you up a shorter steep hill. Then we went careening down hill (FUN!) and into a loop with less steep inclines and declines. At about 2.5 miles, we lose all that elevation gain in a quarter mile or less and race back through the valley to the finish.
My splits from the Garmin were: 7:04, 7:09, 6:41, extra time to get to the finish. I don't have my official time yet, but my watch said 21:46. That is 5 seconds faster than my PR on that course. My legs aren't feeling wasted yet, so I didn't obliterate myself. Last weekend, I did a tempo interval workout at Garin and I could barely walk after. Either that helped, or I didn't push the hills as hard. Or both. This was mostly of the time-trial sort of race for me mentally than a competitive session.
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