Pink Hat Runner: DAM TO DAM 20K 2012

Monday, June 4, 2012

Dam to Dam 20k race recap

What a great day for a 20k race. The temps Saturday morning were in the 50's and little wind.

Dam to Dam Race 20k is a point-to-point USA Track & Field certified distance. The start is on Saylorville Dam where runners can see downtown Des Moines on the horizon. The 12.4 mile journey takes runners through Iowa's countryside and Des Moines neighborhoods to the finish at Des Moines Central Library.

I got up at 3am to get ready to drive to Desoto and meet Tree, so we could ride together. I was feeling really good. I had really been pushing the water, because I'm normally not a water drinker. I'm so bad about never drinking enough water and that just kills me at a race not being hydrated enough. I already had my clothes laid out the night before so things would go smoothly.

Got to the park and ride and jumped in the car with Tree. We were getting there early so we could get a good parking spot. This year they changed the route so that was part of the reason we wanted to get downtown early. The Dam to Dam is a 20k they bus you from different location out to the Saylorville Dam, which we call the mile high bridge, it's absolutely beautiful.

Here what it looked like this morning before the race. What an amazing view

We got to the dam about 5:30, the race didn't start till 7:00. So we had some time to kill. We ran into a lot of different people we new that were running D2D. . We used the potty's right when we got there and their wasn't much of a wait. Hoping that would hold us over till right before the race.

At 6:30 we made our way to the wooded area to get our last potty break in, than we headed off to the bridge to find our pace marker. Several of the people we new were starting at pace marker 10.
The gun goes off and people start moving forward little by little. Finally we ran over the starting line. Time to get our butts in gear.

Tree has a tendency to go faster at the beginning, I on the other hand like to start a little slower and than pick it up at the end. I let Tree take the lead, but I new after 3-4 miles, I was going to be dying on the last leg of the race. We were wanting to keep our pace around a 9:50- 10:00 pace, that has worked for us in some other long runs.. However the first six mile ended up being in the 9's. The first 6 miles-9.34,9.02,9.07,9.24,9.15,9.35. I was getting pretty tired from keeping that pace which I've never kept before, but I new it would average our time out if we fell below 10's.

Those last 6 miles were really tough for me, I just felt like I was running out of steam. Apparently I was, because here are my last 6 miles-11:17,10:17,10:27,10:34,10.48,10:44. They changed where we finished this year and once we hit the downtown area it seemed like it took forever to get to that darn finish line. Normally, I've got some kick at the end, but this girl had nothing left to kick with.

I had a great time and I did better than last year so I'm pretty happy about that. Running D2D also was very good training for Grandma's Marathon coming up on June 16th. So Heck Yes I Will Take A Finish of 2:04.

I also ran D2D in a running skirt. I've never ran in a running skirt before. I got it at Kohls, it's a Nike running skirt, it has a pocket in the back for gels and it also has the compression short underneath. I've tried on several different kinds of skirts, but have walked away with the same result, that I just don't look good in a running skirt. When I tried this skirt on I was amazed how it looked on me. "Hey Baby" Maybe I can wear a running skirt after all. I love the way it fit my body and the length was good. Will definitely be wearing this skirt again.