Snowman Stampede 10 Mile Race Report

This won't be a typical race report, mainly because I didn't really race it.

This was the 3rd race of the Winter Distance Series and the second 10 mile race I'd done in a month.  My training was going *awesome* and I was really hoping for a PR.  And then we went to New Orleans to see family, and my husband was sick the whole time, and then he gave me his cold.  Or rather, my body resisted pretty good until the day after I "raced" a 10 mile race.

I knew when I got to the race site that this wouldn't be a "race-race" as my lungs didn't feel great.  I scrapped the warm-up, as I usually have asthma issues when I stop running, even between a warm up and a longer run.  I just decided to treat this as a training run with a bunch of people. Instead I hung out with friends, which was nice.  Among the usual group of tri dorks, two of my high school friends were also racing. I found one, and then lost her at the start when I went to drop my gear bag.  I was a bit bummed but I normally don't run with people, so I was fine with running alone.

I ate SunRype during the run (strawberry Fruit Source).  So good!

It was pretty nice out so I wore shorts and a short-sleeved shirt (in February!  in Colorado!).  The race started and we went down a hill and around a corner and suddenly I was right behind my two friends.  Its so funny how that worked out.

We ran pretty easy and chatted the miles away, catching up on life.  It was actually really, really fun.  

Sadly, the photographer didn't realize we were friends and we didn't get a group shot...

At mile 8 I just gradually pulled away.  I don't know if I was in race mode or if they were getting tired, but I just somehow ended up going faster than they were.  I pushed a bit to the end, but nothing crazy.  

Finish time: 1:43:47
This was only 42 sec or 4 sec/mile than last month, which included an epic asthma attack at the finish and a really icky last 3 miles.  And the best part - this race felt EASY.  Confirmation that my training is heading in the right direction.

And then I got pretty sick for the next 5 days and didn't really train.  Oops.  But hey, at least I had a fun Saturday :)