the bracelet

It came with my technical shirt for today's race. Before I left my apartment this morning, I made an impulse decision to wear it-in honor of my grandfather, who passed away when I was 3 from lung cancer (which was the cause that the Labrecque 4-miler was for.) I felt it would bring inspiration and good karma, and the like.

So, the race. I got there, checked my bag, lined up...maybe once again, a little on the aggressive side, but the races have been such free-for-alls lately (though someone was announcing to walkers to line up at the back-not all of them followed that, as you will see!!) that I know I'd be screwed if I didn't. Waited through the pre-race speeches, the national anthem, then the starting horn!!

Mile 1 was up Cat Hill, and once again, the start was a complete clusterfuck-I passed quite a few walkers as well!! My mile split was 8:05-which I completely blame on the start slowing me down...

Mile 2 from Engineer's Gate to the 102nd Street Transverse-bit of a downhill mile, and a little bit clearer-this one was 7:50. Cool!! Maybe sub-32 was possible. But the toughest mile was next...

Mile 3-I completely expected this one to be the slowest, those West Side Hills will always be my weak spot!! I glanced down at the bracelet to inspire me to hang in there. This was 8:19-which I completely expected, but at least I did not get the desire to walk as I have before on this mile.

Mile 4-time to get the job done. I was at 24:14 after 3 miles, meaning I'd need to run a 7:45 in order to get under 32 minutes...could I do that?? Another glance at the bracelet to inspire me to pick it up. I took advantage of that long downhill, and the knowledge that there wasn't that much more to go...after making that final turn onto 72nd and getting within sight of the finish line, I knew that I was going to get my goal-that last mile was 7:40.

Final time-31:54, 7:58 pace.

Afterwards, I found my teammates...we mingled, talked, and a few of us headed to the Boathouse for some coffee and conversation. All in all, a very nice morning.

As for today, it's a step in the right direction. I don't feel sore now, which means I probably didn't leave it all out there...another month of training, I think will be promising for the Kidney 10K and the Mini 10K. Maybe that bracelet was a good luck charm of sorts...may have to be a permanent part of the racing ensemble...