I had a fabulous time at the cowpie run today, the day started rainy but the rain managed to take a break from 10:30-2 ish making it perfect and cool for the 11am start. There were about 40 people of all ages, and a dog or two running. The walkers started at 10:30 so we could all end around the same time.
I was a little nervous about being the very last runner, especially with a group that small, but really this run was all about participating and good fun anyways. I chatted with a woman at the beginning and she looked like a runner but not overly serious and decided to pace myself with her and her friend.
After a couple of photo ops for the local paper we were off with a yell of “Let’s go”. The pack took off at a quick pace, and I paced a little fast for the first kilometer, then I started to wise up and let several people pass me. I kept looking behind to make sure I wasn’t last and I was fine. (I feel total admiration for those people who are last in these situations, I am totally not that brave! You are better people then me.)
The worst hill of the whole run is right at the beginning and about 3/4 up the hill the majority of the people in my pace group were walking, thankfully I joined them. I managed to keep up a really solid pace for the first two miles, and even had a mile under 9 minutes (!!!), then we got into more hilly territory and I walked a few more times, including a brief stop through the water station at 5km.
The last kilometer of the route is entirely downhill and was lovely, you run down hill, looking into active pass and into town. The volunteers were manually taking peoples times (my official time was 45:06) and handing out bottles of water.
This may have been my favorite race ever, the volunteers were great, everyone was in a great mood and it was so nice and pretty out. The hills sucked, you can see the elevation below, but pain makes you stronger. Plus, it never hurts to have run the route multiple times before. Can’t wait to run it again next year.
- Distance: 4.57 miles
- Time: 45.06
- Avge/Max HR: 165/177. yowza
- Pace: 9:52 min/mile
- Calories: 446
Mile Splits:
- 10:12 (hello big hill)
- 8:54
- 10:03
- 10:56 (hello extra hilly bit)
- 4:54 (only .57 miles – avg pace 8:40)
You can see the elevation in this garmin photo, this really is a very hilly race, and even though I have run this route before it usually takes me 50 or some minutes since I am not necessarily pushing myself. 8:54 is my fastest mile ever, I ran one mile at 9:06 in the Vancouver Sun Run (10K) and that was my fastest previous to this. Yeay, I am happy for me. It’s also a lovely way to end my first training week for the half in November, even if this was in no way the easy-paced long run intended.
I also have discovered the best post-race meal ever, a monte cristo sandwich made by my boyfriend and delivered straight to me on the couch. With lots of franks red hot sauce.
healthy meal idea of the day:
Chicken Tagine from Cooking Light
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