Finished off the Summer Series with my best race of the series. I didn’t PR, but I didn’t expect to. The course at South Mountain is an out and back. The first half is uphill and then you turn around and get to fly the second half. My plan was to really push the first half of the race and then try to maintain pace on the downhill. The first mile I ran in 7:24, the 2nd was just over 8:00, and the final mile was 7:48. My overall time was 23:44. The speed work I have been doing has been helpful, but I think I need to try to push it a little more toward the end of my workouts.
So I need to shave about 45 seconds off that time to PR. I think my best shot my be at the Twilight meet in October or the Nike Cross Regionals at the end of the cross country season.
I tied my nemesis in the ARR Grand Prix at this race. The Arizona Road Racers Grand Prix is a series of races in Arizona ranging from a mile up to a marathon. There are 15 races you can enter and you earn points for where you finish in each race. You only count the top 10 races you finish. The guy in front of me in my age group usually finishes about a minute in front of me. I could never figure out who he was so I had to search through all the summer series photos to try and find him. I finally found him in a photo from the Kiwanis Park race in July (yes I am a total stalker). He is the guy in the white shirt right behind me!
So I am happy that I am now finishing with him instead of behind him. Next race I will finish in front.
theironpalm 