Race Day- 4 mile Race

So, today was race day.
The good:
1. There were a LOT of people!
2. The Tech shirts we got were really cool and also we got a nice cold runners cloth for our neck at the end.
3. The course was very good and difficult. It was very scenic and not at all boring.
4. The volunteers and hosts of the event were very nice.
5. They had hot dogs, watermelon, water, soda.
6. This was the first race I have done so far where I actually INCREASED the distance raced( previously the furthest I raced was 3.1. So it was only .9 miles more but still)

The Bad:
For the first time in my races( I've only done 3 before) I did not do better then I thought I would. I actually did worse.
However, even though I kind of feel bad about that, I do know that some of it was not under my control.
The race was labeled " flat and fast". There were at least 3 MAJOR hills which I was not at all used to because ( our mistake) we NEVER train on hills. I could really feel the burn.
Also, we had to get up at 5.50 in the morning, so I was tired and not used to that.
And for my final excuse, it rained partly in the race.
I think those 3 factors help explain why I did over 5 minutes worse then I wanted to.

The Ugly:
Despite all the reasons given above, I really think the main reason I did bad was because, from the very beginning, my legs were sore. In fact, they have been sore on and off since wednesday. This week has been the longest amount of miles I have run ( 12.75) since I started running, which may be why they are so sore but still. I feel like I didn't have fighting chance.

The Lessons Learned:
STRETCH MORE!! GET MORE SLEEP!!
PRACTICE HILLS!! CROSS -TRAIN SO MY LEGS WON'T BE SO SORE.

And the wag of the finger goes to not keeping up my intervals. I have been pretty good since the beginning of June of doing my intervals and I was doing them for about the first 75% of the race. But my legs just started to hurt so bad, I walked for like 8 minutes straight and then started back on my intervals.

I hope I do better next time. We will be doing a 10k which is 2.2 miles longer so I am starting to get annoyed with how long it is taking me to run races because the further the distances, the even LONGER I will end up running.

But, I would highly recommend the San Antonio Running Club to people instersted in running races in the San Antonio area.
Here is their websites:
http://www.saroadrunners.com/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=736866