Race day! Not a bad race, felt like death and pushed through it. My throat and lungs felt really messed up, like they do after I run at the Brighton track, and I ran there yesterday so figures. But getting my brother out to run is important. Anyways the pace started out pretty fast, 3 guys broke away a little and then there was a group of 5 of us that kept together until the last mile. This is the first time I've gotten boxed in in a road race.. But I'm sure I also played a part in boxing in other guys unfortunately so its fine. Anyways I dropped off the pack first as that bubble of death in my chest/lungs I feel in bad races was really bad today, but I kept a good distance on the next guy in the pack. I surged with half a mile left and caught the guy with a bandana and tons of hair and then I lost power and was having trouble breathing and he caught me back, I let him get away, the finish line was farther away this year, they lengthened the course. But then! I saw the clock and saw I was close to sub 17 and realized I had enough kick in me to catch him if I killed myself with 200-300 meters left so I busted out my kick and ran him down and got in around 16:57/16:58, he was a solid 20/30 meters ahead so it was a good kick, and I was so dead when I finished that I had to go lean over against some rail and sit down for a while. So I give my effort like an 8 (mile 3 could have been a little better), and how I was feeling about a 3. Still feels good to go sub 17:00 for a full 5k, the finish was about a hundred meters past where I remember it being, I wonder if the course is longer or the starting point is different. I also ran into a guy who used to run for suu after the race, mark! Also my old teammate Robby Lee was there so caught up with him a little. I also ran into Sasha at the starting line. I was going to cool down around 7 miles but I was coughing up my lungs so I decided to go easy and get mileage in later tonight. I also ran into a girl I took AP world history with like 5/6 years ago during my cool down so that was cool. Good race, don't feel great about this weeks mileage but I will get to 30, its not the end of the world and I will be in really good shape for Spartan in two weeks. |