The star's seemed to align again for me on Sunday when I went on to take my second win of the 2012 season. Rather though, Sunday's race was a testament of not only a solid winter training plan, but perhaps more importantly a fantastic mental zone that I've found myself in over the last several months.
Wanting to make "peace" with the winter, I opted to not spend a huge chunk of time down in Arizona this year, but instead committed to making several shorter trips down, basing them around races, the 15 mile Xterra Mcdowell Mountain race being one of them.
After the win at White Tanks I knew that I had some very good early season fitness and knowing that the Mcdowell race didn't have nearly the elevation gain, it seemed like the obvious second race for the season. "Testing the engines" as I call it, the week before a race when I complete my last speed session, and seeing where I'm at in terms of effort-I knew things were looking good-all engines were a go. The only hesitation I had was the distance of the race. Fifteen miles although only a couple more than 13-can be a make or a break. I also knew that due to the more rolling nature of the course that it would be a very fast course and the limiting factor would be my leg speed.
Considering all of these factors, my race plan looked similar to the last, and considering that another outstanding professional runner was on the line, Keri Nelson, from Moab-I knew that I had to go out hard at the beginning, establish my place and then hope to settle into a decent pace that would deliver me to the last couple of miles without too much fatigue. So the plan was executed and found myself at mile two with the second small pack of male runners, with no other women close by. The pace was very fast, and the distance of the race kept reminding me to be very mindful of my effort level-the last thing I wanted was to blow up at mile ten, so I decided to back off just a little and around mile three settled into what I felt was a swift but steady pace. The course terrain, surprised me as it was much more rolling than I had originally anticipated, so again I play my conservative card. The most challenging aspect of the race, was the six mile down hill to the finish, although a bit of a reprieve on the lungs, every ounce of that reprieve and then some gets shoved back into pounding on the legs. Unlike a bicycle course, which I am more accustomed to, a down hill to a runner can be often much more daunting and challenging than a climb. I embraced the mile 14 sign, took one final glance behind me and motored it into the finish, completely grateful that I didn't need to accelerate, or sprint to the line.
I celebrated the win with half-hearted attempt at watching the superbowl with family (just not a football fan) and then REALLY celebrated with a four day post-race vacation to
Sedona. Now back home to Colorado....
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