ARA 30K

I ran the ARA 30K on Sunday. This was the 4th 0f 6 races in the Distance Challenge. It was tough, but fun race through the hills around the Barton Creek and Lost Creek neighborhoods.

My main goal for this race was not to hurt myself. I didn't want to try and push it too hard through all the big hills and and hurt my chances of running the Austin Marathon. That is especially important now since I get to be one of the 3:20 group pace leaders now and I'll have people depending on me.

The hills begin right at the start so I just lined up more towards the middle at the start and just tried to run comfortably. Unbelievably, there were people starting up front that started walking almost immediately. After dodging them I settled in to a good rythmn. The first few miles are generally uphill and I managed to stay around 7:55/mile or better. The first major downhill was on Barton Creek Blvd around Mile 5. Sadie's dad and stepmom were out there to see me run by. I slowed down to talk to them and saw Murray running up behind me. We ended up running the rest of the way together. It made the race a lot more fun having a friend to talk to the whole time, especially on the big hills and windy parts. We kept a nice steady pace the whole time and started passing a lot of people the closer we got to the finish. Sadie was at the corner of Barton Creek Blvd and Southwest Pkwy, so I got to see her twice on the most boring part of the course.

The last couple miles have some of the steapest hills, so we passed a lot of people walking in that section. Finish time was 2:28:19 (7:58/mile). I was pleased with that pace on a hard course.

Looking at the results and our 10K splits, I was 74th overall. I had the 89th fastest 1st 10K, 78th fastest 2nd 10K, and 65th fastest 3rd 10K. I liked the fact that I was better at the end than I was at start.

Only 2 more races and I will complete my first Distance Challenge. 3M will be fun.