The Difference a Year Makes

Last year I ran the Waterfall Glen Xtreme 10 race in Darien, IL. The course is located in a forest preserve and includes a 125 foot climb over half a mile. I didn’t train for it and my results reflected that. My final time was 2 hours and 11 minutes making me last in my age group and my pace over a 13 minute mile. The stats weren’t the worst of it though. The entire hilly race felt miserable to me and for almost a week afterwards, I was sore.

Thankfully this year was different. Having done the race before, I was mentally prepared for the hills and marathon training got me ready for the 10 miles. I started off a little fast for me but then evened out around the beginning of mile 2. While the hills were a challenge, knowing there was a down hill coming shortly helped a lot! I ran the entire race at a pretty consistent pace and finished after 1 hour and 39 minutes making my pace 9:55.