We knew this was a race with a lot of fast people where neither of us would come close to winning, so I didn't have the eye of the tiger going into it. I had a vague goal of being under 21 minutes, but I knew that it was a harder course than the one about a month ago where I was just over 21, so I knew that'd be pretty unlikely. Mile 1: 6:48:10. This was pretty hard because it started uphill. I immediately wished I had eaten something before the race (I don't usually because I'm afraid of having poop problems). I tried to think about things other than running. Mile 2: 6:24:24. Easier because it was downhill, but I was still feeling tired. I kept trying to tell myself that it wasn't very hard and that it was going to be over soon, but mostly I was stressing about being able to keep the pace and wondering if I wanted to puke on or eat the blue pancakes the parade-watchers were eating. Mile 3: 7:28:82. How embarrassing. Yeah, it was a gradual uphill, but there's really no excuse for this. At some point during this mile I had the new experience of feeling like I couldn't get enough air (usually I'm limited by leg/foot soreness or the mental game but not oxygen intake), and I told myself it was okay to slow down (and that I would never do a 5K again). I wish I could have kept it together. There was also some grass running that probably slowed me down for a few seconds. But really I just decided it was too hard and that I didn't want to try anymore (even though in the moment I think I felt like I was trying pretty hard). Last 0.1: I don't know. I forgot to stop my watch. It was nice to be on the track, though. *Way* better than the stupid grass. Runnercard time: 21:34.1. I was kind of bummed for a bit afterward. I'd been used to every race being a new PR, so I wondered if this meant I had stopped getting faster. I'm hoping that really I was just extra tired and it was a harder course than I'm used to. Later - Started a 6-mile out-and-back on the Provo BST with Eric. Neither of us were feeling great, though, so we cut it short. 3.25.
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