Today was a first for me: I ran a race for the third time. I ran the Annapolis Striders' Anniversary 15K in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Going into this morning's race, my expectations were fairly low, as I'm still recovering from some pain in my upper right quad. Had this race not been part of the Champ Series, I probably would not have run at all. To my surprise though, it went pretty well.
My first stroke of good fortune was the weather. I expected it to be brutally cold, but the temps were a bit higher than the forecast predicted and there was a lot of sun to warm things up. My second stroke of good fortune was falling into pace with a very friendly fellow runner. She introduced herself early in the race and kept me entertained and on-pace for almost 6 miles.
My new friend and I separated in mile 6, when I had only 5K to go. My quad was hurting a little, but I remembered to bring some Advil, which kept most of the pain at bay. I definitely had to push myself for the final three miles (and especially for the hilly final mile), but I kept up the pace and finished in 1:37. That's 7 minutes faster than 2010 (1:44) and a full 16 minutes faster than 2009 (1:53)! Even better, I finished 218 of 277 runners. They doesn't sound all that great, until you consider that I finished 240/246 in 2009. So, 2009: 6 people behind me. 2011: 59 people behind me.
Speaking of improvements, I can now officially say that I improved in every single race of the Champ Series compared to 2010. I'll tally exactly how much after my last race of the year (next weekend) when I write my 2011 year in review. Today's race also earned me my second Ironman award! At least when it comes to this race, the third time is the charm!
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