the weather was perfect -- overcast and cloudy the whole run. i went out thinking i'd try to run a sub-2...wasn't sure if i could maintain that pace, but felt i could try.
i tried my best to stay around a 9:10 min/mi pace, and looked ahead to various different runners to pace and pass. there were two gals in their 20's that were ahead of me most of the race until about mile 8, when i decided it was just frustrating to have them come up to me and pass me and then for me to pass them up again. i turned on my music and, with a good song, surged ahead and tried my best to stay ahead.
then there was this other lady, in her 30's maybe, that was up ahead until she stopped to use the portapotty. a-ha! i was ahead. then she caught up and passed me again. ugh! so slowly i'd edge up, and then get next to her, and then she'd pass me again. i was conscious of my time, and knew it was going to be close. around mile 12, i had 10 minutes to go...
with .8mi remaining, i decided to just pass this gal, and stay well ahead of her. it worked. i was pushing hard, legs taking longer strides, and i felt lots of spittle flying out of my mouth. =p oops! i had to turn the corner to get off the santa ana river bed trail to the finish line, and wasn't sure what the official time was. i knew it was close, as my watch already read 1:59 before i turned off. i prepared myself for it to already say 2:00:xx
i heard the announcer and people cheering me on because they knew it was going to be close, i tired hard and pushed and pushed and made it in at 1:59:54 (their unofficial posted times) thank goodness my watch also says it's under 2! =D
i went to check the results, and it showed 14th for females and 40th overall. don't know how many total runners...maybe just over a hundred? will have to look at results tomorrow, or whenever they're posted to know for sure. but it didn't show what my age division ranking was. they were giving place medals for up to FIVE places! cool!
so i headed over to the medals table, and just checked, in case...(i overheard a guy who didn't place, he was #6. oh no! was that going to be me, too?)
not this time! i was #2!!! i didn't even bother to see what the time was for the 1st place -- too happy to care! haha.
a good day for running, definitely.
here are a couple of pictures of me running along the santa ana river trail. i actually look happy! =p
look at the big A behind me. =D
now i'm waiting for it to be time to have AYCE sushi. YUMMY.
And here's the oddly cheesed pizza we ordered, which despite the oddly cheesed portions was still yummy.
Kind of looks like a tumorous growth, now that I think about it. Ew.
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