What.A.Rush.

Literally. A mass of runners running full steam north to south on Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis. I went into the evening hoping for a 1 mile PR (sub-6:26). But 5 days after a marathon, I didn't know how my legs would react. Would my quads tie up? Would my fast-twitch muscles have anything to give? Would my lungs burn? No. Yes. Yes.

Tom Woo, my fellow St. Cloud River Runner race teammate, and I carpooled up to the cities from Rochester. It was kind of drizzly, cool and windy. Ideally, for a one-mile, I'd like it warmer than I normally do when I run distance--75'ish. No wind. But we'd just have to do the best with the what the weather gods had bestowed upon us for late Thursday evening (7:45 PM start time for the team circuit wave). It remained windy, cool and drizzly. We arrived on Nicollet Mall about an hour before our wave was to begin and picked up our shirts, socks, numbers and chips.

I gathered the race team for a pre-race photo.

I happened upon my fellow River Runner/blogger Julie.

Then we ran down to the finish line and back for a 2-mile warmup.

I wore my ds Trainers. They're the lightest shoes I have.

My race strategry was pretty straight-forward ... run at pretty close to an all-out effort for 1 mile. My time would be what it would be. Hopefully, a P.R. It was chilly and I was just wearing a singlet, so I just kept moving/sprinting in the start area pretending I was one of the fast runners. :-) Then, with a bang we were off, running for all we were worth south down Nicollet Ave. The first 1/4 mile is a little uphill, the middle quarters slightly downhill and the last 1/4 ever-so-slightly uphill. (I hadn't noticed this, but Tom pointed it out and he was right.)

There were clocks at each 1/4 mile. My 1/4 mile split: 1:22. Some quick math ... sub-6:00 pace but I knew I couldn't keep it up. 1/2 mile split: 2:50. Feeling pretty good, but it was work. 3/4 mile split: I think I was hypoxic. :-) But it must have been 3:20 to 3:25. As I approached the finish line (relief was in sight!), I saw the clock switch from 5:59 to 6:00. Bummer. My dreams were dashed. I'd really hoped that by some miracle, I would run a sub-6:00. Drat. I crossed the finish line and quickly stopped by stopwatch. I took a peek. 5:56. Yowza!!! I did it! I actually did it!! I was soooooo happy. Beaming, actually. I found my fellow River Runners and celebrated their successes with them as well. It was a good day. A very good day. :-)

(Here's what Thom Woo just posted on Facebook: "Age graded to 5:03 and 82.92%. You are national class!" Don't know much about it, but it sounds good!)

We then got into warm clothes and went out for a bite. We went to a place on a corner on the north end of Nicollet ... McCormick & Schmick's. They were having specials on bar food for $1.95. I ordered the 1/2 lb. cheeseburger and fries. For $1.95!! What a bargain. I ate 1/2 the burger and about 1/2 the fries. It was delicious and worth every penny. A fun ending to a fun evening. After the drive home, I arrived home at about 11:45. Then a quick peek at the official results online ... yes, I really did run a 5:56. 5th in my age group out of 111. 37th woman out of 1236 and 273 overall (out of about 2500 I think). If I were 50, I'd have tied for first in my age group. I hope I can hold on until next year.

Well, I have much more catching up to on this blog. Moving Matt back to Winona yesterday (complete with a run around Lake Winona complete with pix), this morning's 22-mile run, my niece Kaleigh's b-day party this afternoon, yadda, yadda, yadda, ... A very full week. But I will close this out and get ready to go biking with Laree. Have a super weekend everyone!!