It was finally time to toe the start line for the first time this past weekend. I started off my season with the GOG 10 mile run race, which was my first event in Colorado last year. This race brings in some heavy olympic caliber runners (likely due to the prize money), as the race is usually won by someone from the countries of Ethiopia or Kenya. My main goal for this year was to beat my time of last year, and test out my new found speedwork (hopefully).

This is a tough course to pace yourself as the hills are absolutely relentless

I felt good in the early miles as the legs were turning over nicely and I seemed to be avoiding the ever present lung burn when you hit the hills at altitude. This seemed to change between miles 6-7 though, as I struggled over a few of the hills and my stomach was not exactly agreeing with me so I couldn’t take on any fluid (right as the temperature was getting a little warm), so I had to rely on just a few splashes on the face and a couple drops to wet the mouth. I had to back off the pace that was being set by a small group i was tailing, but I knew that if I didn’t I would cross over the line and suffer a complete collapse.

I ended up finishing in 1:01:33, a six minute improvement on last year! I was very happy with this time, showing good progress in my run form. Still a slight bit of frustration though as I knew 1hr flat was well within reach.

23rd overall, 4th AG

Overall winner:  Simon Chepro, 50:31, smoking!!