This race is really one of my favorites. Not because of the course but because of the hundreds and hundreds of dogs there to enjoy the day and run or walk with their owners. Dogs of every shape and size are there. Chihuahuas, pugs, golden retrievers, lots and lots of black labs, German shepherds; all enjoying the day and getting along swimmingly. A puppy Utopia really. Normally I am not driven to run races because of the cause but this race is an exception. I get to run a fun race and raise money for the Seattle Animal Shelter. Best of all worlds. You might even get to unsuspectingly share your post race yogurt with a canine passer-by.
The first mile of the race is flat and I somehow managed to average a 9:33 pace which is BLAZING fast for me these days. The first half of the second mile is also flat but the pace started to slow a little bit because I knew the dreaded evil bitch of a hill was coming up at 1.5 and I wanted to conserve a little energy. I ran part of the way up the hill and then had to walk the rest of the way. Note to self: train on hills! My pace for the second mile blossomed to 10:25. The last mile was back to a 9:40 pace. The last fraction of the course was an 8:57 pace. So overall I finished in 31:37 which means a 10:11 pace. I'll take it. I fully expected to run a PW (personal worst) for this race because I just haven't been training at all and certainly not doing anything remotely close to speed work. I really worked for this race though. My legs were even tired later in the day which clearly means I pushed my pace hard.
My brother didn't PR but he did do a course PR. He ran it in 22:37 which is a pace of 7:17. Nice.
Next race: Seafair Torchlight Run (an 8K) in July. There will be improvement. Guaranteed.
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