Hills to keep you huffing

Yesterday I ran the 10K race at the Eagle River Nature Center...

The trail had plenty of hills to keep you huffing... and plenty of roots and rocks to trip you up...

But it was a perfectly blue sky... in a perfect mountain setting... making it a basically perfect morning.

About half-way through the course another girl and I started pacing off each other... I would pass her... she would pass me... I would pass her... she would pass me...

We continued this way... until it turned into a sort-of team effort...

As we sped toward the finish line... we encouraged each other... yelling "Come on" and "you got it" while gasping for air and sloshing through mud.

The race ended on a steep hill... I charged up and sprinted toward to the finish line... to a round of applause... Lynn followed right on my heels.

My final time was 1:01:26 and Lynn clocked in at 1:01:44.

It was the first running race I've entered since fifth grade... when I placed second in Evergreen's Freedom Run for the under 12 division... and it exceeded expectations.

Not only did I place third in the women's division... 12th overall... I had a hell of a lot of fun!

Now I'm looking at other races around the state and starting to mark my calendar.