Josse, my Mom, Mac, and Jenn came to stay over. Good times and we couldn't seem to make it to bed. Mac and Jenn were pacing the 1:35:00 and convinced me to try and run with them. Last fall my best time was 1:44:ish and that was very aided. 1:35:00, totally doable, right? So I went to bed breathing to the sound of 1:35:00. Morning and we were off. We had our detour directions written on a sticky note from a lady at packet pick up. FYI never trust directions from a lady written on a sticky note(especially when driving in the dark). Stopped at a gas station and found a very helpful attendant. The race. We waited in the potty lines so we only had about .75 mile warm up. I went with the revised plan and started out with Mac & Jenn. I don't know if it was nerves or altitude but my breathing was very labored and felt like I was sucking for air. My legs felt fantastic but I couldn't get my breathing. All I could think about was how fatigued they would be if I couldn't calm down. I stayed with them until the first water stop then decided to drop back a little bit. I could hear them calling my name every once in awhile and it was kinda sad :0( At around mile 6 or so my breathing finally seemed to level out. Maybe I just wasn't use to the effort I was trying to pull off. This middle section was a test for me mentally. The rollers were a battle. I kept people in view and people behind me in check which helped me keep my pace up. Considering I wanted to be done by mile 4 I was telling myself good job and just keep going. The last three were a struggle. I haven't been so done with a race in a long time and my hip started bothering me. At the last water station there was plenty of water in the table but no one handing it to you so I literally stooped for a good 15 sec. I guess it had its good points though. I got in behind 2 guys that were cheering each other on. "2 miles, we got this" They were talking to me too, right? At about a mile I pulled ahead of them and tried my hardest to speed it up. Saw my trusty pull girl & Kassi who told me to push hard until I wanted to cry. She always knows how to push me in. Mac and the pacers joined in and a others my foggy brain can't remember started helping me. It must have been quite a sight. I'm a lucky girl :0) and I made it to the end. splits: 7:00, 7:11, 7:11, 7:19, 7:23, 7:29, 7:42, 7:43, 8:09, 7:58, 8:27, 8:03, 7:46, :12(5:42) | 