You better be good to me

So far, this has been a pretty fun week.
On Wed. nights, I usually run with a group from Sports Basement. It's a fun diverse group of runners and while I really enjoy running alone, it's nice to have some company from time to time. After this week's run, there was a Fit Fest, which had about a dozen vendors and snacks and raffles. Raffles are always fun! There were also people there from Rock Tape taping people and people doing ART so I got my hip/leg worked on post run. And who doesn't love snacks?
And free socks?
I did win a raffle, it was a gift bag with a rather interesting array of items, including:
Asics running hat
Saucony tshirt
kid's teko socks (I really wish they fit me)
Rock tape
water bottle
tiny travel locks
comprehensive guide to marine first aid (total odd ball in the bag)
and the crown jewel: a gift certificate for a pair of UGG sneakers.
Now what I REALLY wanted (not that these things weren't awesome) was the steripen water purifier. Anyone who reads my blog knows Loren and I do a lot of hiking and backpacking so this would really come in handy. Well, I didn't win that. I sized up the couple that did win it to see if I could negotiate. I went up to them and asked what they likelyhood was that they would use it. The guy was like probably and the woman was like, why, whatcha got? I said GC for a pair of UGGS. The words weren't even totally out of my mouth and she was like DONE!
SCORE! I was pretty excited about this swap.

Last night was the end of the 12 week race series put on by DSE Runners. It's been a great 12 weeks of running. I've done 10 of the 12 races and have had a blast. Simple, no nonsense running, gotta love it.
Last night was a big turn out, most of the characters were there and a whole new team of HS runners. All I had to do to win my age group for the series was finish.
Last week, I actually had a conversation with Flowy Shorts (I now know her name!). This week, I talked to big legs, she was actually very chatty and had just run the Pike's Peak Marathon.
Before hand, I warmed up for a mile and a half and felt pretty good.
This weeks route was counter-clockwise which is the hillier direction. And the hills come at about 2.5 miles so late into the 4.5 mile loop. I don't like this direction. I had no expectations of PRing. Since missing last week by 1 second, I was bummed we weren't going the faster way.
Shorts and I line up together and ran pretty much the whole race side by side or trading the lead by a few feet. Around mile 2, tattoo guy from last week joined us.
When we got to the hills, the 3 of us were in a nice little pack. I think this really helped me. I'm a good hill runner and often pass people at this point in the race but the 3 of us working together pushed us all along.
With about a quarter mile to go, Shorts gapped me a bit. I had decided I was going to let her go if she went, but I wasn't too far behind. I also gapped Tattoo dude. I knew from last week he didn't have the gear to come get me.
I took peak at my watch and couldn't believe it.
I had a real shot at a PR. I really didn't think it would happen in this direction. I pushed.
While I was a few feet behind Shorts at the finish, I hit my watch at 33:06, a 9 second PR!
I felt slightly like I wanted to throw up but otherwise felt great. HIgh fives all around from Shorts and Tattooed dude.
I'm pretty sure there was a new woman in my AG ahead of me and I was prob. at least 4th. I did, however, pass Legs at mile 2, first time I beat her. Though, come on, she just ran that marathon.
With that, I locked up my age group for the series. I got a very generic medal that says first place, which I love. I love the low keyness of the entire thing.
Now on to the San Jose half in 5 weeks. I may do 1 more race before then to see where I am. It's a flat course, I think sub 1:40 is possible. This is also the LAST Rock n Roll event I do. They're overpriced and no same day # pick up which is a real pain in the ass.

Unless you live under a rock, no doubt you've seen the news of good ol' Irene heading for the East Coast. Even though I'm not there, I've been following news and weather. Be safe over there East Coasters. Batten down NYers, this could be a big one. And for the love of the running gods, stop complaining about the Bronx Half being cancelled and not getting a refund. It's minor in the grand scheme of things. Run now while it's still nice out.