The first week of December is the annual Rock Canyon Half Marathon in my hometown. Pueblo, Colorado lays on the edge of the Banana Belt and can typically have warmer weather during the winter months. That, unfortunately hasn’t been the case the past two years. What I love about this race, is that my two sisters and I always run it and our Dad comes out and cheers us on! Sometimes we wrap in a spouse or bro-in-law to run it as well and it fun to see everyone out on the out and back course.
This year was super special. We asked special permission for my two older daughters to be able to split the course and race it as a team. We were granted our wish and I ran side by side my oldest daughter, Daphnie (15) for the first 8 miles. This was a blast! Then when I dropped her off and picked up my daughter number 2, Darbie (13), she quickly was pushing the pace and I told her, “Go! See what you can do, Baby!” She quickly dropped out of sight and I was really hoping she remembered she was running 5 miles and not a 5k!
As for my race, this always proves to be interesting. I always finish up Ironman 70.3 World Championships the first part of November and then take two weeks off. I run two short runs the week before the half marathon and am always a little nervous for the day because it seems so long since I’d covered that distance! I had a pretty solid run. I was actually 5 min faster than Clearwater this year which is kind of a big deal for me. Usually I’m within a minute on this course for two reasons 1) my body is completely shutting down after a long season 2) this is a slow course! This year, however, I’ve been feeling super strong with my hamstring/knee and I ran 5min faster than Clearwater going 1:55. I really lost a lot of time the last two miles, but I have not been able to run that hard for 17 months! Legs really hurt; OUCH! I had kind of forgotten that feeling.. but I am so glad to be getting healthy and strong! I will continue to build that speed into my endurance. Strength doesn’t happen overnight! I’m in a really good place going into 2011.
As for my daughters, they peeled out a 1:43 finish. Pretty impressive, at least to me, their mamma! I had several clients that raced as well which made for a very fun day! I also ran into my neighbor, Tim Hola. I believe he placed 4th. A big shout out to him! It is always to fun to see a Timex mate on the courses in the off season and Tim and I seem to get around and pop up at the same place! Enjoy your training =) www.tristafrancis.com
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