The race began at 8am and my goal was to run a 7:30 pace - about 10 seconds faster than I will try to run in New York. The course had some rolling hills on the south side of the lake while the rest of the course was relatively flat. My mile splits were consistent averaging 7:28 through the first 14 miles. Then I seemed to lose my focus for the next 3 miles as my pace slowed to 7:38 mile 15-17. I regained my focus in the final 3 miles and ran my 3 fastest miles averaging a 7:22 pace. Very nice scenery although I noticed it more in the pictures than when I was running.
My overall time was 2:28:43 which compared to my only other 20 mile race from last year (2:39) represents a 10 minute improvement. I achieved my race pace goal of 7:30 by averaging a 7:27 pace. Overall I finished 32nd of 561 finishers and 3rd of 41 in my age group just making the medals! Gail played the part of coach, paparazzi, and cheerleader as she drove along the course taking pictures and encouraging me to pass runner after runner in the last 5 miles. No, make that imploring me to pass them!
I was absolutely spent as always when I crossed the finish line and have been spending the remainder of the day trying to recover my strength and senses! Last stop before New York will be the Medtronic Twin Cities 10k in St Paul on October 3rd.
I have also added a link at the bottom of all my races that will bring you to the official race results page if you wish to explore it.
