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This race recap is brought to you by Chaski Resident Coach Angel Ramirez. We hope you enjoy!

We then went to go get dinner, and run a few errands to clear my mind from any distractions other than racing. After all this, my fiancée and I made our way back to our hotel room and began to eat our dinner, while watching a Star Wars movie marathon, (Star Wars is my all-time favorite). I did the remaining last-minute pre-race prep and then found myself dozing off by 9 pm. I abruptly woke up at 3 am, only wanting to sleep a few more hours. I kept waking up every hour on the dot until I finally decided to get myself out of bed around 5:30 am.

I then went to find the hotel gym to get on the treadmill for about 10 minutes to wake the body up and get the blood flowing. Afterward, I had my usual pre-race English muffin with butter, strawberry jam, and honey. As well as my pre-race drink. I then did what I needed to do to get ready and we took off to the course around 7 am (it was only a 5-minute drive). During the warm-up, I felt great. No indication of any hindrances at all. I then did my pre-race plyometric, and band work, as well as last-minute restroom breaks.

Putting on my shoes, I made my way to the start line and did some pre-race strides. The race began around 8:03 am and we were off. I found myself getting into my pace (while trying to push myself to that next level). I went out in a comfortable 5:15 first mile and starting clipping 5:10s - 5:15s, followed by a 5:22 6th mile. Everything was feeling great up to this point. I had found myself in a pack with 3 other guys, and we were doing our best to help each other share the lead. I came through 10 miles in around 52:33 and then all of a sudden my legs felt super heavy and I  slowed dramatically from a 5:08 10th mile down to a 5:37 11th mile, then a 5:33 12th mile, and finally a 5:20 13th mile, with the 0.1 left to go. I really don't know why after mile 10 my body and legs just gave up and I could not keep with the pace. I told myself if I just ran a 15:30 to 16 minute last 5k I would have PR and come close to breaking 1:08! That wasn't the case as I ended up hitting a 17:06 last 5k and finished with a time of 1:09:39.

I had run this same race and course back in October, and I went 1:09:51, so it was a course PR. Still, I was disappointed with my end results but happy to have been able to race. I have huge goals and ambitions and I know I am better than this. Next up on the table is another half marathon in about 5 weeks at the Woodlands in Texas (my home state). I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks of training and hopefully will run really fast there! The goal is to break my PR of 1:08:39, but most definitely a time of 1:05 is my A-goal.

— Ange lRamirez