Leg #1 - Done and done!

Me and the running gang after yesterday's Garden of the God's 10-Miler. We had perfect running conditions, with temps in the mid-40's at the start, and gray overcast skies. I was nervous going into the race, due to not running more than one 3 miler in the past two weeks. The hills are relentless on this course, just when you conquer one, there is another waiting.

I haven't gone into it on here, but my hip flexor has been giving me some serious pain. I took the week of my beach trip off from running to rest it but came home to find that the rest did not seem to help. So, I schedule an A.R.T. appointment with a sports chiro here in town that works on many athletes (he's even worked on Meb!). The sessions seem to be helping, but I also have an MRI appt in the works, just to rule out hip stress fracture. I'd hate to keep training on such an injury. If it's just a strain though, I'll soldier on.

So, race morning, I was anxious but ready to get the race going. We carpooled down and had one of our Weenies, who was not running the race, drop us at the start just in time for one more potty break and a quick warm up before the gun. Off we went, with a crowded pack, that certainly helped with speed control for the first mile. Going into the race, I knew I just had to make the 2:30 hr cut-off to not get booted from the Ascent. I didn't know how my hip was going to react, so I took it easy and went with how I felt. Thankfully, it held up pretty well with only some slight pain, nothing I couldn't handle. I finished in 1:41:16, my best Garden 10-Mile time to date. It's not super fast, but given the training I've been able to put into it, I felt good about the result. Definitely made the cut-off! Last time I ran this race was in 2005, when I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Camryn. The course is different, so it's hard to really compare times, but I think the current course is more difficult than the one I ran in '01, '02, '03 and '05.

I was happy to see my Beans throughout the majority of the race, it makes me happy to see their smiling faces on the course and know that we are all getting it done. Everyone was pleased with their finish, with our Weenie totally kicking butt. He could have qualified for Wave 1 of the Ascent if he'd used his Garden time when registering. So proud of everyone and so, so glad Leg #1 is done and we can move onto the Summer Roundup Trail Run, giddyup!