Weekends have two purposes: homework and races.  Ok, fine, three purposes: Netflix (granted this comes after completing purposes one and two).  Saturday was the 36th Annual Sailin' Shoes 5/10K.  Per usual I stressed myself out and didn't push as hard as I could have, at the same time I ran a well calculated race which involved keeping my eyes peeled for possible age group competition.  It was strategy that proved effective - I won my age group by something like 6 minutes.  I started the race sore after directing a science camp on Friday which included bottle rockets and dodgeball (which is more intense than you'd think).  That said, I took my time settling into the race, but upon hitting the four mile mark I was good to go.  Unfortunately in a 10K the four mile mark is ⅔ of the way done.  For that reason I actually preferred the Garden 10-miler; I simply had more time to run which is just how I like it.  Exhausted yesterday afternoon I spent the rest of the day with my dog, textbooks, foam roller, and Netflix (and a delicious burger from the Skirted Heifer).

To finish off my weekend of speed work, I ran the Spring Spree 10K this morning with an average pace of 8:00/mile, which is fast for me.  There was a chilly wind, which may have helped my cause for no other reason than that I wanted to get out of said wind.  This event has potential, but it only drew 50 runners or so and was not chip timed.  I was the second woman to finish overall, but that's debatable.  From the anecdotes flying around Memorial Park after the race it seems that everyone ran a slightly different course - two laps around the lake of three, three laps around a field or four? I just followed the directions of the course marshals and kept running, if I was misdirected, sorry - I promise it was unintentional!  Yet, I feel like a horrible person not quite knowing if I went astray - this is where good signage and volunteers make a difference.  If you just want to put in some miles, this is a fine way to do it.  It you want a more serious race with reliable results, I'd skip this particular race.

Next stop: Summer Roundup on July 6th.  In the meantime, I have some miles to put in on the mountain and some cross training to do so I can continue this awesome injury-free streak (knock on wood).