Woo! I wasn't really focusing on this race and decided to use it as a workout, doing about tempo pace. The race is a super flat 3.5 miles around Chrissy Field in San Francisco. Here were my random goals/wants:
- Break 24 minutes (6:51 pace)
- Finish in the top 20 women
Boy, do goals really get you going fast. This was the second time this season where I felt I was actually racing instead of running a time trial. So, after a really short warmup, I started off at what I thought was a relaxed pace, only to find out at the mile mark that I ran 6:07. Whoops! Immediately after, we ran against a long 1+ mile headwind section. It felt like a bike race, where I just drafted behind guys and gals in front of me. I tried to stay with/keep in sight the gals with me and in front of me and we all pretty much did that, albeit much slower than the first mile. The second two miles were at 6:40 pace. By the way, I went through 3 miles at 19:35, which extrapolated to 3.1 would be about 20:15. I haven't done a 20:15 in a long while, and I think I can actually break the 20-minute barrier if I do a flat 5k road race this season. That was so exciting!
In the end I finished 18th woman at 22:57, a full minute faster than my goal, and good thing, because otherwise I wouldn't have made it in the top 20. This race (especially that first mile) was definitely a confidence booster.
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