Run with the Wind 25k

The short:

I finally finished the Run with the Wind 25k feeling good - it only took 7 tries! I have always felt too cooked too early in this race, but being more conservative made for a more enjoyable final 5 miles, and I met my most important goal of breaking the Missouri 25k state record for my age (44), with 1:51:57. I ran the whole race with my running buddy Paul, who edged me by 0.06 at the end.

The long:

I tried to decide to run this race 5 days beforehand, but due to an up-in-air trip to Kansas I couldn't officially decide until about 15 hours before. I had a lot of fun racing last weekend so wanted to do it again, plus I enjoyed going to this race with my friend Sally last year and she wanted to run it again. We roped our friend Paul into going too, which was extra great for me because he and I are running very similarly right now.

I've run this race 6 times previously (2024, 2023, 2022, 2015, 2012, and 2010), even though every year I note how hard the course is for me! There aren't many 25k races so the Missouri single age state records are generally attainable; I've now broken a record 6 of the 7 times I've run this race (3 of them have since been improved by Katie), so that keeps me coming back. The race organizers announce which direction the race will run the night before, and this year was Carthage to Sarcoxie, which is the harder direction and means primarily a south and east route. The wind was behind us going east and we had a headwind going south, but it was lighter than in years past and not a factor. This was the warmest RWTW I've done, at around 48*.

Sally, Paul, and I drove over to the race together and registered. We hopped on the bus to the start, which was supposed to depart at 8:00 but left late, then drove the race course backwards instead of taking the faster route to the start on the highway. We took off our warm ups and put on our race shoes on the bus, then jumped off when it arrived at 8:45, ran into the bathroom and to drop our bags, then had enough time for a 1.1 mile warm up and 1 stride. We had a similar issue last year, and while it's not a huge deal I would have liked to get in at least 2 miles of jogging before. 

A blurry photo of the 3 of us early on

Sally, Paul, and I planned to start together. I figured Sally would pick it up and that Paul and I would be together most of the race, which is exactly what happened. Sally dropped the pace around mile 5-6, and Paul and I passed a couple of men together after that but it was all fairly uneventful. It was Paul's first time running this race so it was fun to get his impressions of the course. I started a gel at mile 5 but it took me until mile 11 to get the whole thing down due to some minor GI upset, but otherwise everything went fairly smoothly and it felt more like an uptempo long run than a race since it was mostly just me and Paul.

Around mile 12

Around halfway

Sally was far enough ahead of me and the next woman was far enough behind me that it was hard to be motivated to push too hard, but running with Paul kept me honest. We decided when our watches beeped mile 15 we'd race each other to the finish, and we went back and forth on who had a slight lead as we both picked it up. When we crossed the finish line we were uncertain which of us had edged the other, but our chips gave it to him by 0.06! I wish we had a video of that finish. There was a child running back and forth through the finish that complicated the situation.

I ended up 3rd overall female and 1st female age-graded. I got awards for winning my age group, winning female age-grading, and for setting a Missouri state record. I also won a $25 gift card and a free entry to another race, so I came out well! I imagine I will be back for #8 next year...

Race results are here and my 25k state record will be here 

From mile 4 on it feels mostly uphill because it is