Frostbite 15k RR

I L O V E racing.

(As I type this,
I'm sipping
hot coffee
and Holmes is
cooking up a
massive spinach,
tomato, pepper,
onion, turkey and cheese
omelette-I think
I'm spoiled)

The Frostbite 15k in Richmond, VA started at the magnificent hour of 9am. Holmes volunteered for the race, so we arrived at 8am-felt like 20 degrees according to weather.com.

9am came pretty quickly (fortunately) and we got started. This was a very low key race. No chips or D tags, except for the first mile, the mile markers were some small yellow cones with a number in tape on top. Easy to miss. Holmes was at the first mile, hollering out times to everyone running past and telling them where to turn.

When we started moving, I got worried I had stepped on something and it was stuck to my shoe. Then I realized it was on both shoes. Then I realized, oh right right, that's not a rock or a stick, that's my FROZEN FEET. They thawed out somewhere around mile three and they felt normal the rest of the race. Around the end of the first mile, a lady fell in pace and I mean in STEP with me. Normally this is no big deal, but she was literally six inches from me. I kept edging and she edged too. After a few minutes she said, "sorry I just really like your pace". I just kind of laughed it off and tried to speed up. Finally, I was able to brush her off on a pretty steep hill (ps. the key to hills is a tiny stride)

Overall, the first three felt easy, I was under a 10 min pace, but then we started passing the leaders (it was an out and back) on an uphill. I don't know if I got discouraged and didn't notice that I was slowing, but I did. Significantly. I went a mile and a half to the half way point in 16 min. On the way back though, I got it back, I finished that same mile and a half in 13.

Around about the same point that I picked up my pace again, a guy swung around a corner next to me and said "I could really go for some sushi right now". HA and ewwwww. and I responded as such. I'm not normally a chatty runner. I don't run with running groups or partners, because I really enjoy running alone. But I always hear of people talking through races, so I thought I'd give it a shot. We chatted the entire way in...random stuff, what we do, lasagna pancakes, why we started running, our significant others, etc etc. As we passed Holmes again, chatty runner hollered out to Holmes "July 4th is a great day!" I'm pretty sure he helped me keep my pace for the remainder of the race. I finished strong, big kick (nice downhill slope). Finished in 1:28:57. Six minute PR over my first 15K back in Oct 07. WOO!

Banana and bagel at the end of the race, and then I walked/ran the mile back to where Holmes was stationed, because I didn't want to stand around in the bitter cold, I figured it was a better idea to keep moving. I got to his truck just as the last runner trotted by!