What a difference a year can make! Saturday was the Falls to Falls run. This is the first “repeat” run (read about last year here) I’ve done and the improvement I’ve made in the last year was VERY evident.
Last year my goal was to finish…which I did in 1hour and 27 minutes. This year, since I’ve been training for a half marathon, my goal was to shave 10 to 15 minutes or so off my time.
It was windy and cold Saturday morning, and I’ll admit I wasn’t looking forward to doing that 2 mile stretch in the middle running into the wind. I wasn’t the only one feeling grumbly about it either. However, as the busses took us runners to the start line and we passed the walkers who had started an hour prior you could almost feel the mood on the bus change to one of excitement.
The first part of this course is that 2% grade up out of the Snake River canyon. It lasts about 1.5 miles. Last year I made it up the first little bit and then walked to the top. This year I just kept pushing and made it to the top without breaking from a slow jog. After that the rest of the race went a lot faster than I recalled. The downhill stretch into Dierkes Lake I just let loose and darn near flew…it was fun! The small hill coming into Dierkes is still a killer, but seeing Kevin and the kids standing on the sidelines cheering me on gave me that last little oomph I needed to cross the finish line.
The best part….I more than accomplished my goal. Color me surprised, but when I passed the finish line the race clock read 55:37. That’s more than 30 minutes faster than last year! Holy Toledo Batman! I really didn’t expect that. Plus, I felt so much better post race, nowhere near as wiped out as I recall from last year.
This race really confirmed how much all the time and effort I’m putting in is paying off, and makes me much more confident about the upcoming half marathon in May.
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