I was so so tired at the end, but I promise I was not unconscious and it wasn't a medical emergency.
This race went better than I could have imagined- except for the last 2-3 blocks. I went out with Merrilee Blackham. She has qualified for the Olympic Trials and usually runs pretty solid at Des News.
I was surprised there wasn't a pack of faster girls in front of us. I actually thought our first mile was slow considering the pace the leaders usually take it out at. My main goal was to beat my time from 2 years ago so when we started off more or less at the same pace I picked it up a bit. We traded off the lead for the first 2.5 miles and just before 3 miles I pulled ahead and she didn't respond.
Luckily there was a group of high school boys I latched on to and so I dug in my heels and went for a big PR.
The last 1.5 miles are just brutal, but I was holding it together ok. My last mile was still quite a bit faster than it had been in the past but I knew I was in trouble. I was getting very very tired and it was starting to feel like the marathon death march! I don't know if it was nutrition, dehydration or just pushing myself to the max, but I knew I had to get myself finish line quickly. My last .2 was the slowest split of the race, but I finished on my feet. That didn't last long because I must have been a little wobbly when I asked if I could lay down so the timing guy picked me up and took me to the medic tent. I spent a few minutes in there resting and then enjoyed the finish line festivities.
I'm still in shock that I took first. I feel like I ran a solid race, but I know there are several girls that could have shown up and taken the race- that's how races go. You never know who is going to show up, and how your body is going to respond to what you ask it to do.
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