That was an awesome race. I didn't break my PR but got close to it (see some excuses below). It was the 2nd annual 5K on Franklin street which is the main street of Chapel Hill North Carolina. If you know Chapel Hill, you know that it is very beautiful. 7:30AM start. 62F, mostly cloudy, relatively small crowd - perfect conditions.
OK, so what happened. I actually was at 13:12 at the 2 miles mark which is a 6:36 minutes per mile which should have landed me safely into a new PR. The next 3/4 a mile was OK no problem but then there was a big down hill and here is how the last 300 yards of the race were: 200 yards of a very steep uphill and then the last 100 yards we basically circled a parking lot making 4 90 degree turns within those last 100 yards! Duh! How can one kick it in the last streatch if you need to run up a steep hill and then do a stupid parking lot run with 4 sharp turns? I am sure that cost me my PR.
On top of that I was also a bit under the weather. Had running nose and sneezes and some ear aches and even though the first 2 miles were really nice I didn't feel very strong. I had problems falling asleep the night before not because the jitters but because I was all congested. But I sucked it in and did my best. Now for the good news: Final time: 21:03 (17 seconds slower than my PR) but... I came 3rd in my age group!!!!!!!! Arie.
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