FUN TIMES AROUND THE BAY!!

I had a blast at the Around the Bay 30K race!!! This has just become my favorite race =) I only have postive things to say from the organization , the volunteers, and the people cheering on the side of the road to the race course. There was almost twice as many people as at the Chilly Half (5200) but the organization was so much better! It didn't feel crowded except at the beginning of the race, it took me almost 4 minutes to cross the starting line! I hung out with some maniacs at the beginning and it was great! It was so nice to be running and meeting some of them on the course, felt like I was running with some friends, orange power! ;-)

I didn't start the race at a crazy and unmaintainable pace which is a small victory for me! I am also very proud to announce that I finally got negative splits!! YAY!

10K @ 10:50 min/mile

20K @ 10:55 min/mile

30K @ 10:44 min/mile (woohoo!)

I felt strong the whole time, I could not believe how easy it was to maintain that pace! No knee pain, nothing hurt at all. This was a great test for me, all that winter running really paid off and the 4:30 spring marathon is really becoming a reality. =) Everyone was talking about all the rolling hills and the big one, but I didn't think they were that bad and I really didn't concentrate on hill training this winter. I actually had lots of fun doing them (yes you can call me crazy!). I'm sure that driving the course and seeing all the hills the night before (thanks to Dierdre) really helped me on visualising them and not being afraid. I had lots of energy the whole race but when I saw the 28 km marker I really speeded up! I crossed the finish line at 3:21:45 (chip time) and felt great about my time and my performance!

I love this race and I'm hoping to do it again in the future! Thanks for reading and happy running everyone! =)