The warm temperatures this evening were offset by a steady breeze, but the recent layer of rock dust laid down along the path did make it difficult to breathe in places. Both the men’s and women’s races saw some new faces in front this week, with both winners taking at least a couple of minutes lead over their nearest competitors. Kirby Davis led the way with a 16:01 finishing time, while Heather Pagano took advantage of other runners around her to run a 2 and a half minute personal best in 19:27.

I meant to run the race in 4 minute per K pace (20 minutes), and I mostly held onto that pace or only slightly quicker. Heather goaded me into running a bit faster than I’d meant to. I got a good warmup and cooldown to finish the day with 19 kilometers under my belt, and then went to the grocery store where I learned that the labels are correct; Borax is indeed an eye irritant.

There were 142 finishers this week. Only 1 more week before the initial leader board becomes available, and this year promises to be a good one. Quite a few people have run all 5 races so far, with even more having only missed 1 race to date. I expect that the tops of the leader boards will be much more competitive this year than they were last year.

(Full Results – Photos)