Don't stop, people are watching

Wow! So I'm two days out from the Twin Cities 10 and I really think that is one of those defining moments in my life that I'll remember forever. Let me take you through the day and give my race report:

A 5:30 wake up call woke me up and I was on the road to the 'dome at 6:15 or so. It was beautiful out for running. A good 50 or so degrees at race start. I got out of my dad's car, and warmed up around the 10 mile and marathon corrals for about 15 minutes. I was really warm for the race start, and just felt amazing. I was in the 4th corral, the slow corral, and I started in the back of the pack because I thought that would help me go out slow and not blow it in the first four miles. Right out of the gate I knew I was in the wrong corral though. As far as I could see were jackets, running tights, ipods, gym shorts and gelled hair. Rediculous- they looked slow, how could anybody out of this group run fast? I was the only one that I could see in my corral wearing short shorts and I just felt out of place. I heard talk of 2+ hour finishes and 5 mile long runs. Everyone was horsing around and going crazy and I was squatting in the corner saying a prayer. No disrespect to those people I'm trashing, but I just felt all around faster than those guys.

The gun went off, and 15 minutes later I was licking my fingers, doing the backwards sign of the cross, and crossing the start line to bewildered stares. The first three miles were slow, and I tried to stay behind some bros in gym shorts (that's not a term of endearment,) although I jumped from person to person every fourth of a mile or so until I was the only blue bib number in the sea of green ones. We should say here that I was planning to run a 1:30. We went through the first 4 miles in 45 minutes, and by them the pack had thinned out a little and it was time to go. I felt really strong up the hill where I saw my dad and brother and just kept on going. I've ran this route about a hundred times, so I wasn't really surprised I ran that hill well.

I made the turn on Summit Ave. knowing that I had to pick it up a little to make my goal. I saw the lovely ladies of fifth floor Dowling by St. Thomas and knew if anything, I had to do it for them- college students don't get out of bed at 7:30 for no good reason. I really don't remember much of Summit. I was on autopilot for the most part, my feet weren't even hitting the ground. People were packed two or three deep from St. Thomas to Macalaster, which was so cool. There was a giant Viking at mile 8, I remember that. Everyone was all hunkered down in their pace, and then somebody's like "How about that game tomorrow night?" and everybody just went crazy; it was great.

The next thing I distinctly remember was making the turn onto John Ireland Boulevard and running under the huge American flag. That was really special. I was so focused going to the capital, it was great. The stands were still packed as I crossed the finish line. I finished in 1:29:48, 23rd in my age class. It felt easy. Honestly, I could have easily run the extra 16 miles for the Marathon. Can anybody say Minneapolis Marathon? Twin Cities next year? we'll see. Money holds me back more than anything.

4 weeks until Monster Dash. A rainy 6 miles tonight. Later.