I woke up long before the alarm went off this morning, but just laid their until it was time to get up. A shower and some breakfast and I was out the door headed for South Mountain Park. The primary race is the South Mountain Classic 20k, but they also have a 5k in conjunction with it. I wasn't coming into this race trying for any kind of time. I ran 6 miles yesterday and the South Mountain course is a very tough one to run fast. The entire first half is uphill, including about half a mile of fairly steep gain. I was really treating this as a speed workout. It was a little warm as well - the temps were about 75 degrees. I started out at a pace I figured I could hold the entire race. After a flat first half mile, the course turns upward. My legs felt a bit rubbery, I'm guessing from the long run yesterday. I found a pace I could maintain up the hills. It wasn't very fast, but I kept it even. At the turnaround, I was more than ready for the downhill back to the finish. I've seen people talk off at this point and a few did today. I caught them with a half mile to go when the downhill ends and they realize they still have more running to do.
26:19, (34th out of 107)
I had hoped to go under 26 minutes, but it wasn't to be. Still, it was a fun race this morning and I managed an even level of effort from start to finish.
On the weightloss front, I managed to drop 3 pounds over the week bringing me down to 182. That means that I have lost 8 pounds in 4 weeks. That's pretty much what I am hoping to do. I think that's a good pace of weightloss for me.
I hope everyone had a great weekend, especially if you were racing.
Until next time...
