The first 3 miles of this race was beautiful. Clean, rolling trails. Mostly downhill, but not quad-crushing downhill. "Wow. I'm moving fast. This is such an easy course."
Around mile 2, it occurred to me that we had been going mostly down for quite a while and that meant we would eventually have to go back up.
By mile 3, I was being passed by the freaks of nature that had started the 5 mile race 10 minutes AFTER those of us running the 10. "Yeah, not feeling so fast anymore. Who made these people?"
Mile 4 and we split off from the 5 miler pack. Suddenly it was just me and one other runner. Peaceful. "A lot less crowded now that we got rid of them, huh?" she said. "Yeah, but who's going to carry me to the finish when I fall and break something?" Me. The eternal optimist.
Miles 5-7 were a bit of a blur. My legs began a violent protest. There was more up in this section than there had been in the first few miles. I debated with them.
"WALK!"
"We're over halfway there. Just keep going."
"WALK NOW!"
"Come on! We're about to PR. Just keep pushing."
"We. said. WALK!!!"
So we walked. Fine.
By mile 7, I'd convinced them to rejoin me in an effort to finish this 10 mile trail run in less than 1 hour and 45 minutes. And since we were back on the original few miles of trail, the up wasn't as rough anymore. I was determined to hit my goal.
And I did.
When the race director gave me this medal, she told me I was awesome. Seriously, so awesome. My response? "Yes. Yes, I am awesome."
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