Last week I joined a few other crazy, and by that I mean crazy cool, ultra runners for the FANS 12 Hour race at Lake Nakomis in the Twin Cities. The race is in it's 23rd year and is a fundraiser for the FANS association, which is an academic support program for Twin Cities students. Last year I had a great race in tough conditions with temps over 90 degrees! I was hoping for better weather this year.
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| Crew area at FANS about 45 min before the start |
As the race started I went out with the leaders, but after about 2 hours I decided to slow down just a bit. Some of the other runners in the lead pack were shooting for PR times and distances in the 50 Mile and 100k to try to earn a spot on the US National 100K team. I ran for about 4:00 with Carolyn Smith and we ended up closing the gap with some of the early race leaders as their strong pace started to ware on them.
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| Just after the 50 Mile mark of the race, almost 7 Hours in |
The weather was much better this year, with highs of about 72 degrees. I felt much stronger this year and was able to run a much more even pace throughout the race. During the course of the race I was running in second and third, and ended in third place with 75.2 miles - a New 12 Hour PR for me. I also got a new 50 Mile Road PR at 6:50:00. I know that my coach Jason, as well as my former teammates Tyler and Anne's visits and pacing during the race really helped me and pushed me to both my new PR's - so a big thanks to them and my always awesome crew!
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| Listening to "Stuff You Should Know" Podcasts |
