Hobble Creek half: 6th overall female, 38th of male and female, 2nd plc age division. I love the hobble course! It really is a gentle rolling downhill. Woke up at 4:30 and met my friend Monica at the bus loading in Mapleton. We met up with Julie, her hubby Adam and Scott Wesemann. The bus ride up seemed so long. I had been worried this week about running this because of the quad strain I had nine days ago. I have felt it a bit off and on. So a few days ago I said a prayer that it would resolve itself, and it has. We were the first bus up there and he dropped us right at the starting lines. We got clean POP's. :) The race didn't start to to late. 7:39 the gun fired. I started out with Jen Hughes, who went on to win Hobble Creek for the females. And this part I want to be the focus of my race report. I ran with her for the first 7 miles. We paced each other. I always feel good with another person nearby. Both of us working together was awesome. Around mile 7 I looked up ahead at the pack of 4 Women who were in the lead. I know that Jen Hughes has been running her very best this year and she has the drive to do amazing things. So, I looked over at her and said: Jen you can reign those women in and win this. I know you can. She looked at me and said: but I don't know Lily! I looked back at her and said I KNOW YOU CAN. GO for it! And guess what? SHE DID! She bolted from me at that very moment. And for the next 4 miles I watched Jen pick off those women one by one. I know I am one of those emotional chics about running, and today was no exception. I teared up several times watching Jen full on sprint into the lead and fight to the finish against Julie Thomas. And YES, she won! I lost sight of them the last 1.5 miles. So during my own race running, I held a 6:30 avg during all 13.1 miles. This was a total breakthrough for me in a 1/2 marathon distance.In the past, I think in the last couple miles I would start hitting low 7's. So today felt great. During miles 9-10, I was able to pick off 5 men one by one. I leaned into my run and felt things getting easier and easier. Mile 12, TylerS and Travis (local SF runners, Very talented) they passed by me and gave me words of encouragement. This helped me so much to keep my drive going. During the last mile I felt bouyed up by the words and cheers of the spectators. It felt really good. A sojourner volunteer riding a bike up the course passed by and said keep it up, you are 6th female, there is a women about 20 seconds behind you. That was all I needed to hear! My last mile I dug deep and found a 6:13 split. Usually I'm toast in the very last mile! I felt so good finishing and seeing my kids as usual and hearing people call my name. Nice! After wards I wandered back up the course and found Julie, and ran in with her. She did GREAT! Jen Hughes found me after the race, and we hugged and shed a few tears. She thanked me for giving her the words of encouragement that she knew she needed to not only catch up, but win the half. She said every time she felt like she had nothing left, she would hear my voice saying: I know you can do this. And she did! She ROCKED IT! I liked this course. I'll be back next year. And congrats to everyone else that finished it today! Splits:6:13, 6:24, 6:23, 6:25, 6:23, 6:20, 6:38, 6:37, 6:40, 6:50, 6:49, 6:51, 6:13
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