Thank you Garden of the Gods for letting me finish injury free.  People say the views in this race are awesome.  I was looking to catch my breath and didn’t see any views.  Here is a recap of race day.

I am sleeping so well on a Sunday morning when out of the darkness my alarm rings.  It is time to get up for the race.  I wipe the sleep from my eye and stumble to the bathroom.  A shower, a shave, some coffee and some stretching and I am ready to go.

I drive into Manitou looking for parking and end up parking at Manitou Middle school.  I am glad class is not in session because all those kids are taller than me.  I take the short journey to the start line thinking to myself, brrrrr.  I should have worn more clothes.  I get to the Pikespeaksports.us tent and see my team mates.  They make me feel better.  They are a great group! Thank you Shelley, Mary, Jill, Bill, Brianne and Sean.

 My goal is 1:20.  I did a 1:25 last year so my goal is a lofty one.  This means I need to average 8:00 miles.  I have a plan, stay strong going up the hills and don’t let off on the downhill.  Also, don’t start to fast.  Anything under 7:00 on my first mile will only hurt me.

I creep up to the front of the pack for the start and the announcer is talking.  I can’t hear him because all the thoughts going through my mind.  I hear the gun sound or go or something because everyone starts moving.  Here I go.  8:00 minute miles, 8:00 minute miles, 8:00 minute miles.

 As I run I only think about the run.  My strategy, my time and how I feel.  In the first mile I am thinking did I hydrate enough, did I rest enough, I forgot my shot bloks and how is this humidity going to affect me?  I see a hill and I manage to hit the top then I look up and see another hill, then another hill.  These are not views I want to see.  Screw the views, I don’t want to see any more hills.

Somewhere around mile 5.5 I catch a guy or he catches me.  I don’t know his name or bib number.  We start talking how this race is about 7 miles more than we like.  The 5k races are the best!  We manage to help each other as we encourage each other and go back and forth.  In the end he got my by a few seconds.  Thank you dude and great job!  The crowd, the volunteers and most of all the runners helped me.  I have so many friends in the running community and I love them all.

My uncle William was near the end and he propelled me.  Go, go, go he yells.  He has inspired me for years and I do my best to finish strong.  Big Bubbs helped me too and I had enough to high 5 him!  I cross the finish and it reads 1:17:41.  I did it!  I beat my goal.  My gold and purple sling is soaked.  Not because I ran fast but because of the humidity.

As I walk in a daze at the end there is so much running through my head.  The only thing I really remember is……I think to myself, I only wanted to quit once in the race.  The whole race!

Thank you Pikespeaksports.us and the Triple Crown of running.  Tim Bergsten and Ron Ilgen you are the best.  I am so proud to be a part of this team. 

Remember keep running my fellow runners because you inspire me.  Go BRT!!!!