15K nationals in Riverside, CA

This went about as I expected. Not great, but not terrible. And I did better than the last two years; while that isn't saying much since I was super slow those two years, it reflects how I am feeling in a nutshell. BETTER! Better is good. I think what truly sums up my day today is what Yvette, another racewalker, said as I lapped her: "It's a beautiful day. We are blessed to be out here." Amen, sister.

I wanted to do a 6:10/km pace, and I did that for the first partial lap and the second lap, but I knew that wasn't in the cards for today. I worked a bit too hard to get to 5K in 30:50, then 10K in 1:02:17 (31:27), and my laps slowed down from 10:31 to 10:53 at the slowest (2nd to last lap). I had a little left in the tank for the last lap, though my HR was up into the low 170s to get a 10:38 at the end. Disappointing but not surprising, though again I am truly very happy just to be feeling better and on my way back. Total time was 1:33:49 with last 5K of 31:32, so I held on to my pace pretty well from 5-15K. Average HR 162; working hard but still out of shape. Max was 176 at the end!

Laps were 8:07 (partial), 10:31, 10:39, 10:40, 10:44, 10:51, 10:47, 10:53, 10:38.

Garmin data here.

I am having a relaxing and fun weekend with my friends Nancy and Kathy, and it's super nice to be out of town and have few responsibilities for a few days. It's a great bonus to see friends at the 15K, and I especially enjoyed talking with Alex Price and with Dave Talcott and Erin Taylor-Talcott. Haven't had a good chat with Erin in a very long time, and I very much enjoyed catching up with her. Lucky for me, Dave and Erin are staying at the same hotel as we are, and we are all going to get to have dinner tonight :).



Race results (partial, and unofficial) for those who are interested:

Rachel Seaman 1:07:47 new course record 

Miranda Melville 1:14:06

Erin Gray 1:16:58

Robyn Stephens  1:17:04

Erin Taylor-Talcott 1:20:44

Tammy Stevenson 1:33:49

Karen Stoyanowski 1:39?

Nick Christie 1:05:21

Emanuel Corvera 1:10:10

Francisco Pantoya 1:19:56

Dave Talcott 1:17:32

Mark Green 1:20.xx

Dave Swarts 1:23:01

Alex Price 1:28.xx

Adrian Zamudio 1:29.xx