Almost ...

... but not quite. :-( I really should have run a 15K PR today at the MDRA race. Would'a, should'a, could'a ... But I ran 1:06:35. My PR is 1:06:06 which was run at the super flat Spring Classic 15K this May in Rochester. I really wish I'd have pushed it more today and taken 30 seconds off my time.

And I should have been able to do that. My splits were: 6:28 6:53 7:05 7:04 7:06 7:15 7:25 (ouch! second to last hill) 7:01 7:26 (ouch! -- last hill) and 6:55 pace for the last .41 miles (on my Garmin I had 9.41miles for the 9.3 mile race. Some guy came up to me at the finish and asked what mileage I had. He had the exact same thing. Be that as it may, my time was what it was.) This course is hilly with 5  significant hills and it was very windy. I ran 1:06:57 last year on this course, which was a 15K PR at the time. So this was a 22 second PR on this course. All in all I guess it was probably my best 15K effort even though it wasn't my best 15K time. But I have some serious work to do before TC10 where I ran 6:59 pace last year for 10 miles and a 1:09:36 (on a perfect weather day). So there 'ya go.

Backing up ... this race is a very fast race. Not a fast course by any stretch, but a fast race. It attracts mostly USATF team circuit racers. And they are fast. And it psyches me out. It's 3 times around a 5K loop course, with 2 big hills on each loop. Shortly after arriving just before 7:00 AM, I met up with my St. Cloud River Runner teammates before the race. Rick, Paul, Val and I made one pass around the course as a warm-up. (OK ... 5K might have been too much of a warm-up). After that we toodled around the parking lot to keep moving so we wouldn't stiffen up. Then it was off to the start line. The race announcer said it was 1/4 mile to the 5K start and about 1/2 mile to the 15K start (I don't think it was quite that far, but whatever). So ... I'm looking around at race numbers moving up to the start line. Yikes!! I hadn't put my number on yet! And it was sitting on the front seat of my car! So I had to dash back to my car to retrieve it and put it on. I had less than 5 minutes before the gun went off when I got back. Well, the mad dash helped keep my race nerves at bay! Then ... as I was passing through the 5K runners, I noticed that my number was in the 300 series, just like theirs. And all the 15K numbers seemed a lot lower. I was a bit wigged out. Lisa said she thought the numbers were assigned in alphabetical order and that seemed to be the case with Anita B. and Lisa H., so I didn't think too much about it. At the finish, they posted some results and I noticed that mine was not listed among the 15K finishers. :-( Hmmm ... I better check on this. So I toodled on over to Heidi Keller Miler at the finish line and she said to go talk to Jack Moran, which I did. He verified that I was indeed listed among the finishers, but was listed as a 5K finisher. Ahhh ... snafu #2. He fixed it up and now I was officially done with the 15K. :-)

Our team chatted for a while after the finish ...

Tom, Lisa, Paul, Anita

Rick, Paul, Val

me, Anita, Shannon, Tom

before heading to Panera in Eden Prairie for a post-race breakfast.

Lisa, Anita, Rick

Shannon, Eda, Molly

Me, Paul, Tom

Rick, Val, Shannon

It was so good to see them all again. It's been a while. After leaving there, I made quick stops at Trader Joe's, Penzey's and Run N' Fun in St. Paul. We had a 20% off coupon on our race bibs for Run N Fun. Nothing tripped my trigger. Then it was time to motor down highway 52 back to Rochester. A fun day. :-)

More on the Saturday RAC run and WICKED in my next post. Toodles!