Rio Grande Finale

AM: 75 mins. (10+ miles)
PM: Travel

Tanya, Jenna and I didn't get much sleep last night, and it wasn't because we were out late celebrating (although I'll plead the 5th on whether or not Simon and Nelson could say the same). Instead, a combination of springing the clocks forward plus a late morning flight meant we had to be up and out the door for our run before 7am. I'm not going to lie; there was some grumbling when our alarms went off just after 6, and the thought of sleeping in briefly flashed across my mind. Instead, we got dressed and met Jenna in the lobby to drive to our now-familiar destination: the Rio Grande River trail.

The sky was barely lightening as we started the run. For the first few miles no one spoke, and the only sounds were the shuffling of our feet and the exhalation of our breath. It wasn't until our five-mile turnaround that we all felt awake enough to maintain some semblance of a conversation. My legs felt tired, though not sore--that's what happens when you run a slow race, I suppose. Even my calves weren't nearly as tight as I'd expected, despite running 5k in spikes (which, for those of you who are counting, is about 4.9k farther than I've run in spikes in the past year). By the end of the run today I finally felt decent, though not great. I've got to admit, part of me is sad to leave New Mexico behind. It's a great training venue and the dry air does wonders for my hair. But overall I'm excited to be returning home this evening.

Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement over the past week! I'll see you back in Charlotte.