ARR South Mountain 20K Race Report

2:10 on the Garmin 2:12 chip time. Mmmm, last place in my division. Must work hills into routine. Automatic PR because I've never gone this distance in a race. This 20K is an out and back through the hills of South Mountain in Phoenix. You can get a better idea of the elevation with this--

Reminds me of........ except for that growth in the cleave

And the beauty of the course here:

I haven't been putting in that many miles lately and definitely no hill work, so I was not thinking about setting any records. I wanted to make this race within my long slow run range of around 11:00 minute miles. My overall average pace was 10:23 so I'm happy. The hill work was kicking my butt, but it's nice to know that I recovered some time on the downhills.

Mile 1: 9:40

Mile 2: 11:00 up up up

Mile 3: 10:26

Mile 4: 9:20 nice downhills

Mile 5: 9:28

Mile 6: 10:09

Mile 7: 10:59 back up again

Mile 8: 11:43

Mile 9: 12:09 ouch!

Mile 10: 12:15 more ouchy!!

Mile 11: 9:40 glide and stride

Mile 12: 9:59 I said glide and STRIDE!

Final .4: 9:16 that's better

Look at my 15 foot shadow

Typical ARR race starting zone. Well organized, friendly, and efficient.

Then we got a little testy didn't we? This 6 year old and his daddy came by me already past the turnaround and on course to finish in under 2 hours. It took me a while, but I had forgotten that there was a 6:30 start for those who thought they might not finish. Better luck when you get a bit older kid, maybe you'll be able to join the big leagues!

Hey Jimmy! An extra hour?? Growing up as a cheater will not get you very far.

Got to the turnaround and I hadn't really consulted the Garmin prior to that. 

Apparently it's ok to pee next to the cone?

I was surprised to see that I was in range of my goal, but I knew that I had some major uphills to run before the final 2 miles of downhills. These were tough! Made it to the final downhills and ran it in. Nice race ARR!

Oh, and we had an ultrasound Tuesday: Girl!!