Bret

Difficult race this morning.  Cold (for Florida) 42 degrees and windy.  Race was a 5/10k combined in downtown St. Pete.  Started uphill slightly from 2nd Ave N and 2nd Street in front of Baywalk - headed west and around mirror lake then back east to the waterfront and beach drive south past Al Lang field and behind the old bayfront center with a hairpin turn around and back north to Baywalk.  Ran the first two miles ahead of pace from my 5k two weeks ago where I went 18:06.  Miles 1 and 2 were - 5:42,  5:54 respectively - but never felt comfortable and in fact debated whether to race today - so that probably had something to do with a slight loss of concentration after the turn in the last mile.  6:17 in mile 3 with and uphill finish on a long course resulted in a disappointing time of 18:56.  Heartrate was at max 181-182 from the start of the second mile to the finish.  So, it wasn't for a lack of effort.  I think I thought I was going to break 18 this morning and would have expected as much after mile 2 - but running into a bit of a head wind in the third mile and just not quite having it put together today I came up short.  Indeed wth the mismeasured course even if I had run a 5:50 or 6 flat for the last mile I still would not have been under 18.  Oh well, still ran well for the first two miles. :) 

Turns out I won my age group and was 14th overall.

PM - went out with Delaney for an easy 4 miles - I am doing my best to be her personal trainer for her track season - enjoyed the time chatting with her about running.