Race day

Ran the Elks summerfest 3.5 mile race today. When I woke up it was raining so hard I thought that it might turn into an Exterra race. By the start (4 PM) the rain had stopped; since it was an off road race around the resevoir the trail (access road really) was wet but ok. The road is made of fine gravel / cinders and is part of the same course that is the talking turkey 6 miler in late November. I had a good warm up before the race, ran into some folks from the team and chatted for a while before the race. And we were off!

I had such high hopes for the race; really wanted to get into under 8 minute miles. Mile 1 was 7:12; mile 2 8:04; and I blew it on mile 3 which was 8:18. I ended up finishing in 28:30 which rounds out to 8:10s. My goal was 28:00. HR average for the first mile was at 175, 189 for mile 2, and 191 for mile 3. The last 1/2 mile the HR average was at 193 so I don't think that I could have pushed any harder.

ARRRGH! So frustrated. I need to learn either how to push harder, or how to set more realistic goals. On the plus side, my first mile was the fastest I have ever done, so thats a good thing.