Winter Sun Fun

I know, I know - where is the blog about how great the Winter Sun 10K was? Sorry - got side-tracked but here it is. It was great! It was better than great! It was grrrrrrreat! Hot Legs and her BF went down Friday evening to get acclimated, and the HTB and I drove down early Saturday morning. Julie was kind enough to pick up my race packet and all that stuff and the boys were kind enough to drive us to the starting line at the golf course. Which was much appreciated - because it was cold! Hi I'm Julie, modeling the latest in running gear. This is my friend Lynn and these are our bib numbers! We joined the other close to 700 runners in jumping, jogging and stretching to get the blood pumping. Julie and I lined up at the 6:00 mile pace mark - for the picture only (which you can’t see, but oh well). Someday we'll line up here, too. When the starting gun went off - we were ready. The course wound its way through the side streets of Moab on a cloudy, overcast day. But it’s Moab so it was still beautiful, although no Winter Sun ever made an appearance. I forgot to close the cap on my water bottle and when I went to take a swig discovered it had all dripped down my pant leg and into my sneaker. At the end of the race it had frozen solid - a veritable pantsicle. Julie can relay what went through her mind during the race - but I think it was all pretty good. I felt just fine during the whole 6.2 miles. Around mile 2 there was a grunt of a hill appropriately named Roadrunner Hill. I toyed with the idea of walking a bit but I said “Nope, I’m sick of walking up the hills. I train on hills. I’m not walking.” And I didn’t. In fact - it was the first race I’ve ever run where I did not walk AT ALL! I was psyched. It helped that after that hill it was mostly a gentle downhill to the finish. But hey - I don’t add brownie points for the uphills so I ain’t deducting them for the downhills either. At mile 3 I checked my time and it was right at 30 minutes. Wow! My best split time ever - I know - big whoop at ten minute miles but it was my PR and I’m claiming it. The fun part of the race was that it finished at the high school and you had to run a lap around the track - like the Olympics! Way cool. I know there were other runners around me . . . . I was very happy with my PR time of 1:01:55. Now when I get to the 60 - 69 age group - I might have a shot of winning my age group! I watched for Julie and then stalked her all the way to the finish line! I was so proud of her I had tears in my eyes. Really - it’s been so much fun training for this race with her. Run, Hot Legs, run! We did it! After chugging some very welcome hot chocolate and milling around with the other runners - we headed out for the warmth of our cars. The glow from the race lasted quite a while - which will come in handy as we keep training in the sub-zero weather for the 10K in Gateway in February. Maybe we’ll have a Sentinel Team - since at least two other employees ran the Winter Sun.