<p>Wow OM is running great.</p>
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<p>I got to WV last night so I had a chance to drive the course. It was definitely rolling hills with no very long hills but rarely a flat place to run.</p>
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<p>I carbed up before the race with a raspberry jelly donut and a little diet mt dew while thinking about the nutritionist KS listened to the other evening. I always worry about getting up for these early races but was the first runner there as the organizers were setting up the tent. After I registered I read the paper until 7:30 when it was time to do a warmup. The plan was to run from the end back to the 8 mile mark and return which would be about 2.6 miles. When I got about a mile out, I would have headed down a long hill (and back up it) so I turned around and came back so around 2 miles.</p>
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<p>The race started and I went a little easier effort than last weeks 10 mile race. I got to the first mile in 6:46. The second mile was 7:00 and the third was 6:56. I was finally getting warmed up (woken up) and I knew the 4th mile was uphill and I wanted to get to the top before really going. There were 3 or 4 runners around me that I wanted to lose so I hit the hill pretty hard and ran that mile in 6:48. I lost all of them but one runner caught back up with me during the 6:22 downhill mile. We ran step for step until 6 miles which I reached in 40:41 after a 6:49 mile. At this point the guy I was running with grabbed a drink of water and fell back in a hurry. I pushed the pace to catch some more runners and ran the 7th mile in 6:27. At this point my right calf started tightening up. My hip had been tight the first 3 miles and with all the downhills, I wasn't surprised my calf started to yelp. I tried to land more on my heel and run upright to see if I could hold on to the finish. I ran the 8th mile in 6:42 and was glad to see a couple uphills where I caught a couple more runners. I finally figured out if I landed with my foot turned out, my calf wasn't as tight so I did that the last 1.3 of the race. I ran the 9th mile in 6:32 and the .3 in 1:51 to finish in 62:13 for a 6:41 pace. That was a little faster than last week and the course was a little hillier so I was pretty happy with the time. My 3 mile splits were 20:42, 19:59, and 19:41. I was 10th overall and first in my age group but will have to wait until results are posted to see the other times.</p>
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<p>My left foot which has been bothering me held up pretty good but I am hobbling a little on both so xtraining will be on the schedule for the next few days.</p>
