I woke up earlier than I should have, but I did get time to eat half of a bagel which was really good. Karlee and I warmed up half a mile. I was really excited, and not exactly in that race mode which was really wierd, though. I did have a goal which was sub-7 average. When everybody wandered towards the starting line, I quickly did some leg swings and we walked up there. When we started I didn't sprint as fast as I could, but I think that was a good thing. Here are my mile splits: 1) 7:04, 2) 6:40, 3) 6:54, 4) 6:45, 5) 6:43, 6) 6:50, 7) 7:00, 8) 7:14, 9) 6:57, 9.3) 2:00. My first mile I just stuck with Karlee. There was a group of high-school girls near us and I think they were from Mountain Crest. I felt amazing. I was actually talking the first mile, too. When we got to the first mile mark, I actually sped up. I could see Megan and Holly Haguewood and was hoping that I could catch up to them. Slowly, I kept passing people. I felt amazing the first three and had caught up to Megan. I talked to her for a minute, then kept going. I found this set way to keep my pace by knowing I'd be around 3:30 minutes at the marathon marks and around 6:00 minutes at the half marathon marks. That kept my pace pretty even until mile 7 where you go up that steep hill. I started up it a little too fast, but nobody passed me going up it. When I got to the top I wanted to give up, but I didn't. I could still see Holly, but I just didn't want to speed up. It felt too hard. I kept checking my watch and doing the math to figure out the slowest miles I could hit and still get a sub-7. I kept going, but wasn't able to go much faster. The last mile, I just wanted to be done. When I hit the 9 mile mark, though, I knew someone was behind me so right when I clicked my watch, I turned to see who is was and sprinted away. My finish felt fast, but I didn't feel like I was moving fast. I was happy to be done, though. My time really shocked me. It was a nine minute PR from last year. I wonder if the time was off, because my watch or the clock said 1:04, but I got a 1:03. It was a great race to be sore afterwards.
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