Hilly, Hot and Humid

Those were the conditions for the MDRA 15K this morning in Edina. When I got up at 4:45 AM, the thermometer said 72 degrees. Ouch. That's the warmest morning we've had all summer. And I've got to race in it! But so did everyone else. Some handle heat and humidity better than others, though. Anyway, I was r-e-a-l-l-y tired when the alarm went off. I was hoping I'd make the drive up to the cities without falling asleep. Well, after puttering around a little bit, I did feel a little more with it. A Diet Coke also helped the situation. :-0


I'd not run this race before and did not know what to expect of the course or the competition. From the get-go, both were a little intimidating. It's a 3-loop course and we started almost at the top of the steepest hill. And the runners ... oh, my. I was psyched out. This event is part of the USATF team circuit and it appeared that EVERYONE was on a team, and running for time. A fast time. I was very intimidated. My legs felt tired and heavy, I kept yawning, and didn't know how my race would go today, especially after a 20-miler on Friday. But I was also happy to be running with, and representing, the St. Cloud River Runners race team. I am so happy to be a part of the team, and treasure the friendships I've made. (Pictured are, front: Molly Borski, Lisa Hines, Wanda Gau, Cindy Lewandowski; back: Anita Baugh, Denise Baxter, Erin Lemke, me, Kate Adams)

Well, we started at almost the crest of the biggest hill, which we'd run up 2 more times, and kept making right turns until we were back at the race headquarters/finish line area. There was another hill in the last mile, which we ran up 3 times. So it was a hilly course making it hard to compare my eventual time with the Spring Classic 15K course which is pancake flat. But there was no time to dwell on that. There were 9.3 miles to run.

First mile: 6:33. Yikes. What have I done? Again .. out w-a-y too fast. Settle down. Get back to a maintainable pace. Or you're going to crash and burn, especially in this kind of weather. The rest of my splits were: 6:57 7:08 7:05 7:09 7:10 7:31 (?? Ouch) 7:12 7:24 (I should have sucked it up and pushed this mile.) But I was happy with my 1:06:57, which was a P.R. My previous P.R. at this distance was in May at the Spring Classic 15K with a 1:07:40.

A little aside here, which I got permission to post: Denise Baxter pulled me aside today and told me that she had something to tell me. An old boyfriend of hers found her through this blog. :-) Denise and I were in Duluth for Grandma's and stayed a couple of nights in a rented house. (Other than a horrendous marathon, I had a wonderful weekend!) Anyway, I'd posted a couple of photos and this old flame saw them. Denise contacted him through Facebook and they've re-established their friendship/relationship and Denise will be going out to visit him in Richmond, VA in a few weeks. What a neat story! And I'm so happy for both of them. Denise was beaming today. :-)

I chatted with these friends up there: Pat Brown,

John Brown (no relation!), and Francine LePage. Cookies were shared with friends ...

and strangers. (New friends?!) Before leaving the cities, I stopped at Whole Foods on Fairview and Grand in St. Paul ...

and then the brand new, just opened Trader Joe's on Randolph and Lexington, also in St. Paul.

I must have torched some calories as I'm STILL hungry, even after a wonderful evening of homemade pizza from a wood-fired oven with my Cooking Light cooking group friends.

More on that tomorrow. I'll create a couple of slideshows tomorrow. My list of things to post is HUGE but I need to get to bed now. It's 10:30.

Good night!!