4.5 warm up with the guys. Then added a little over .5 to sneak a quick potty. Warm up ended up being a little longer than I originally wanted but in the end maybe just right:) My watch didn't save any of my splits or total time (this new timex gps is kind of turning out to be a bust). My splits through miles 1-6 are basically identical to Dave's. 5:14, 5:18, 5:22, 5:16, 5:27, 5:36 I felt pretty smooth in these first 6 miles. In the warm up the groin was pretty tight but I never felt it through the race- after the race it hurt like &%$ and was super tight. Had great weather (which for me seems rare).
Then between miles 6-10 I lost 22 seconds on Dave and from 10 to the finish I really struggled. Starting with the big hill up Majestic Rd. But even if I'd have just finished without slowing down I wasn't catching Dave as he finished like a champ today. I could tell by the way he was running down Washington Dam road at mile 8 that he was "feeling" it today. Wish I had the closing spits to see how pathetic they really were- or maybe not that bad. Guess I'll never know. I know once I hit the big hill the gears just wouldn't flow and I was hitting like 6:50 pace up that sucker and never got going. Overall I'm ok about the race. Held it together about 2.5 miles longer than at STG half (there I died at mile 8). So I'm making some progress and I really hate half marathon pace. Hoping it will just be a good workout and stepping stone to help put together one good marathon this year. I just want one more good one- then I can walk away happy. Hit 2.7 miles for the cool down over to where Mik'L parked the car by the fields church. I felt pretty trashed and moaned out loud a lot during these miles. Just getting old-
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