I was super happy to do a race this summer! It was an early morning, but not too early. Warmed up maybe a half mile, maybe more. Had no idea what time I would hit, I was just hoping for maybe a sub-40. I hadn't ran a ton of tempo, either, this summer. I did wear my flats, though. There were a ton of people I recognized at the start. Talked to quite a few people. The start was fun, there were a lot of people. Turned the corner, and took advantage of the first hill. Of course, 200m in, my left shoe untied. I was next to Sarah Feeny and 2 other girls. I almost wanted to ask outloud if I should stop or keep going to tie my shoe. Just kept running. The four of us pushed each other for the next 3 miles. It felt good. I PRed in my 2 mile up. At about 3.5 miles, a girl came up from behind and passed us. Sarah went with her, and I tried to hold on, but got gapped pretty well. A girl in red was maybe 7 seconds ahead of me, but that gap grew. At mile 4, my legs began to feel the burn. My stride didn't feel as strong the last 2 miles, but I kept a decent pace. On the last turn, where the finish line was in view, I felt a pop on my right foot around the toes. A blister had popped. I was not mentally prepped for the final stretch to be as long as it was. Tried to get on my toes, but the blister burned a bit. Was still able to speed up at the end. After I finished, I looked down at my foot and some blood had soaked through my shoe from the blister. The mile splits were 5:26, 5:43, 5:59, 6:01, 6:13, 8:07 (last 1.2). My first 2 mile was a 11:10 and first 3 mile was a 17:09, so much faster than I'd ever ran either of those distances. It was way fun, though. I'm still pretty shocked about all of those times. Hopefully they can boost my confidence, lol. It was a blast talking to and catching up with a bunch of people after. I was sore, and was stupid enough not to cool down. Had a fun rest of the day with sore calves and thighs. I'm happy with the race, though.
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