Photos from City of Lakes 25K and Nailing a Race Plan

Chris D was out on the 25K course cheering and snapping photos on Sunday. He's the speedy hubby of speedy Jenna B who finished the 25K as the 2nd female in 1:30 (BREAKING an 18-year-old State Record for 35-year-old females by 3 minutes!) and who came across with a 13.1 split of 1:16. Speedy couple!

Anyway, Chris got a few photos of me at work as I was wrapping up the first big loop around both lakes (around the 10K point):

Running with a Roctane Gel in-hand.


"Hey... who's taking photos?...."


"... Oh HI Chris!"


Running to the start of the 2nd loop.

As I ran past, he told me I was looking good and that I was running smooth. The first part (about "looking good") might have been a lie. But that last part was important because that's what I was trying to do all race - I can "clomp" or just trudge my way though a 1 mile or 5K. But for 25K I wanted to make sure I was easy on my body (especially my heel), so I tried to check my form now-and-then.

After looping around Harriet for the 2nd of 3 times (around the 8-9 mile mark), Chris saw me again:

Looking a little more pained, but my form still looks OK! (Just a little hip drop.)
Oh, and I took that Roctane about a half mile later at an aid station.

Thanks for the photos Chris! Congrats to your speedy wife!


Related:

Remember THIS POST where I tried to show that I race longer races best with even splits? (If you missed my post about "graphing your splits," make sure to check it out here.) Well, I had to just "nerd out" and graph my splits in the 25K to see how they looked:

Pretty consistent!!

I learned that to have the best races, I need to hold pretty even splits. (Or maybe it's that I have the best races when my splits stay similar. Tomato, tomahto.) The points on that graph look very similar to my New Prague Half Marathon PR performance from 4 months ago:

I'm so happy I tried that distance, but I don't know how soon I want to race it again.......

Click here for my "City of Lakes 25K Race Report.