Today I took advantage of Matt’s bike race to get a nice long run in. This way, I can participate in his races (and get some race feel myself) and still have time for my own run. I started out near Foxen Canyon. The first 3 miles were very gentle uphill, followed by about a mile of less gentle uphill. The hill was pretty long, and I was really proud of myself for making it all the way up to the top.
I wish I had some pictures – it was about 8:30 in the morning, beautiful cool and clear, and there I was in the lovely rolling vineyards. Just me and the cows! I startled a bunch of them as I came up the hill, and the mooed at me in bovine consternation.
I stopped after 4 miles to inhale some jelly beans, which are my new fav running food. It was so nice to have my fuel belt with me – I’ve been really dehydrated on my last couple runs so it was nice to know it was there (thanks Matt!!) I turned around and started cooking down the downhill, but my feet are not quite as light as feathers and the jouncing started hurting my knee. I really tried to work on my form and it helped a little, but I had to slow down toward the bottom and shake my legs out. The last two miles were a gentle downhill back to the car, and you will see by my mile splits that I was still feeling good. After looking at my data, I think I could have pushed it a little harder. C’est la vie.
Here’s the data:
Mile 1: 10:09:32
Mile2: 10:35:83
Mile 3: 11:26:06
Mile 4: (hill) 11:47:45
Mile 5: 11:42:83
Mile 6: 10:19:87
Mile 7: 10:04:87
Mile 8: 8:41:04
I can’t believe I did the last mile in 8:41 – clearly not pushing enough earlier! 
Overall time 1:24:47. Not too bad, I’ll take it. This coming week will be my first full training week – wish me luck!
EDIT – I neglected to mention that Matt came in SECOND PLACE in his race! Sarah P and John C were also out in force representing the ‘Ranch and UCSB. Silly bikers. Who needs a bike to get them from place to place? 
[...] in Los Olivos so no marathon road trip this day.. just a nice 45 minute drive out to wine country. Joselyne joined me to get in some hilly distance runs on the surrounding country roads while we raced (and for moral [...]