Wait! What!?!?! I Won!?!?! Really!?

Miles Run Saturday:3, Sunday:7, Tuesday:4

Saturday we went to the US national whitewater center, a really cool place (www.usnwc.org), that has whitewater rafting, kayaking, mountain biking, zip lining, flatwater kayaking, etc.  A really fun place.

Anyways, they had their annual 5K/10K off road races.  It was Jo's turn this week so she did the 5K.  The trails are pretty hardcore, over rocks, trees, around water, etc.  The race started in the parking lot.  All gravel.  a lot of time was spent looking down to see where to step

Jo getting ready

Listening to final instructions

Interestingly, there was a pretty large group of people, but the trails are quite narrow, so the start narrowed down considerably.

The start

So of course there was a logjam at the start, but at least they had the timing mats, so your time only started once you got going.

Sprint for the finish

After the race started, Julia and I headed for the finish line.  I've done cross country races before, so i know that the times are a bit slower than regular road races.  But right around where i was expecting her, Johane came around the corner and headed for the finish.

Into the final stretch

Glad it's over

She crossed in a decent time, and was pretty tired after, but she didn't feel like she finished in a good time at all.  So she headed for the showers, and i got to run the course.  I have to admit, it's been a while since i ran that course, and it was way hillier than i remembered!  So after i ran too, we headed home to pick up the cat from the animal hospital.  Since i didn't have time to shower, i was still in my sweaty running gear.  Good thing i didn't take the time to shower, because we got a flat tire on the truck and i had to sit on the side of the road and change it!  Anyways, got the cat (just in time), took a shower and took the boat out.  Went swimming in the lake, where the water was 95 degrees, and stopped to have dinner out on the lake. 

Eating dinner overlooking the lake with a cool breeze blowing was awesome.  No better place to be, and one of the great things about where we live.

Anyways, at night Jo and i were talking about her run, and were trying to figure out what her average pace per mile was.  I suggested we just go look at the results posted online.  Well, when we went online, it turns out that Jo won her age group!  Not bad considering she thought she had a bad run.

Sunday dawned bright and early for me, as i knew i had a longer run to do, and i wanted to go before it got too hot, and i also knew that Jo had her long run to do after me.  So i did a 7 around the neighborhoods nearby.  It was pretty humid, but i had a better run than i thought I'd have.  I really realized that Isle of Pines is pretty hilly after all.  Nice downhill all 2 miles to the end, but all uphill all the way back.  Overall though, I was pleased to get through the 7.

And today, I got up early again, headed down to work and did the 4 miles on Mallard Creek near the office.  It's an interesting run since the course is basically U-shaped.  Start off downhill for a while then a LONG uphill, and then back.  I noticed some definite improvement over just a few weeks ago, though part of that could be the fact that it was a little cooler and less humid this morning.  Could the humidity finally be breaking?  I hope so.