To finish the story...

I did. Finish, that is. (The 15K.) Not that I ever had any question that I would. All my questions revolved around... how would I do? How would I feel? Would I still be walking the next day? (Ah, yet another cliffhanger!)

Race conditions were excellent today. The weather was warm, unusually balmy, and despite a forecast predicting high probability of rain, it did not in fact rain. The 15K started at 8:30, about ten minutes later than the originally scheduled time of 8:20. I had walked down to the starting point from my hotel (about half a mile away), and got there just as the 5K was starting at 7:45. I was just finishing a pre-race coffee (double short nonfat latte with sugarfree vanilla), intended to give me a caffeine boost without too much milk to slosh around in my stomach. After the latte I took a warmup run, passing back by the hotel where I stopped to drop off my gloves (certainly not needed today) and use the bathroom one more time. (But not the last time - I made a final stop in the porta-potties just before the run and prayed that my body would be able to hold any other urges until the race was over. Miraculously, it did, and so I did not have to stop at any of the restrooms en route.)

I guess I knew when I signed up, but had forgotten, that this was going to be a "hilly" race. After starting the first mile in the heart of downtown (where we passed my hotel and I thought longingly of my comfy room), we began heading uphill. And up. And up. The first four miles were truly uphill all the way. Then the next two were hilly, ups and downs. Finally, after six miles of hills (at a rather discouraging time of 59 minutes), the remainder of the course, 3.3 miles, was all downill and level. I picked up my pace and finished with a time of 86:20.

Even though that was a slower average pace than I would have liked, I was pleased that I had increased my pace from almost 10 minutes per mile in the first six, to less than eight and a half for the remainer (8:18, to be precise). Leaving me with an average pace of about nine minutes, sixteen seconds per mile. Not award winning, but acceptable.

I finished off my running holiday weekend with a massage at a spa near my hotel, before climbing into the car for the long drive home, already wondering where I could travel for the next run!