First Time First Place!

This morning was the VIII annual road race here in La Roda. And guess who took first place for women on her home turf?? Yes, yours truly. :) There were only eight women racing, 136 runners total. I don't know my overall place, but I came in first with quite a considerable gap before the second place girl.

Our course here in La Roda is a bit flatter than last Sunday's in Campillos. I was expecting to run faster here. And I most certainly did: 7 min mile pace! I finished the 5.9 miles (9.5km) in 41.10. If you remember last weeks time was 42.57... Being at home definitely made the difference--aside from knowing the course, a lot of pride is on the line when you're defending your home course. :) And of course being here in La Roda I had the support of friends, neighbors and of course, Angelines.

My good friend Nuria was my "team". She had a cooler prepared with water, juice, bananas... it was great. The race was a 3+km loop through town and it went right past our front door. At the end of my second loop, Angelines was sitting on the curb outside the door with breakfast, cheering through a mouthful of cereal. ;)

On the third, and final lap, a man I don't know (pretty sure he's not from La Roda either) caught up to me and said, "Come on, I'm gonna make sure you win. Breathe with me." I really wasn't feeling bad, although I could tell that I was running quite a bit faster than last Sunday. Maybe I looked like I needed more help than I felt like I needed... For whatever reason, I was glad to have his company because anyone who runs knows that there's nothing worse than getting caught alone in the middle or toward the end of a race! We pushed it though the last 3km and in the final 5o meters or so, I kicked it to the end passing him and another runner. :)

It was a good race. I've got a nice big trophy to show for it, too...though no jamón, darn!