After a long night of watching Kansas and fireworks, I didn't know how ready I'd be for this race. I woke up at 5, so I didn't get much sleep and went to the race with my dad and sister. We picked up my sister's and my race packet and got ready. I stretched out, and did a warm up by myself, til I saw Scott, and then did some with him and my sister came along too. When we got to the starting line I looked around to see Jerrell. I knew he was running it, but I didn't see him anywhere.
The gun went off. I went at an alright pace for the first bit, til I finally got into my regular race pace. I heard steps behind me the first mile, and saw Jerrell and another more experienced looking runner (whose name escapes me right now when I am writing this) running right behind me. Great, two guys that are going to give me a race for my money. First mile split. 5:02. Where I regularly run it, so not too bad. The next mile Jerrell and the other guy passed me until the mile marker, there was a downhill there, and I passed them right before it. 5:11. A bit slower then my half split, but still there. Same thing happened the third mile. They were ahead til about the mile 3 marker. This mile was a bit surprising, and I hit it at 5:11 also. By this time Jerrell started slowing down. (I later found out it was because at the start he couldn't find his inhaler, and ended up running without using it before, which came back to bite him. That was also the reason he came to the start late) Mile 4, the other guy and me just went back and forth. I passed him on the downhill, and on the flat or uphill he would pass me. My calf was hurting and I didn't think I could hold on too long 5:16.
About this time I yelled halfway. Mile 5, A bit faster of a mile, but same thing as the last one. 5:08. Mile 6, I was thinking if I could only get a PR for my 10k time, and just finish in 2nd I'll be pretty happy. I told him I couldn't keep this pace up for very long. As soon as he started putting an area between me and him, I saw Shawn O'very on his bike telling me to keep going, and then a half mile later saw coach Write on his bike yelling the same thing. 5:13. Mile 7/hill in mile 6. When we got to the hill, I felt great and he slowed a bit, so I passed him and pushed it with all I could because I knew he wasn't going to let me just have the win. I gained a bit of ways on him here. 5:17. Mile 8 Slowest mile, probably because I was worn from the hill. I looked back a bunch to make sure he wasn't gaining too much on me. 5:30. Mile 9/everything else. I had the time on my ipod as a 6:43, but I think I ran a 6:55 or somewhere around there. I sprinted a bunch for it. I kept looking back, until I hit mile nine, where I didn't think he was going to pass me, and I went hard for this part. My watch said 48:36, which I must have accidentally hit stop somewhere or started it late, becaus the clock had me 9 seconds slower. I'm still great with the time though.
As soon as I crossed the finish, or atleast a minute after I could feel my calves hurting. Again. I stretched them out, and they felt better. I might not run the smithfield half due to how they feel. This might be my last run before XC starts. maybe. Later saw so many people I knew. Ran a cool down with Jerrell, who still took 3rd and beat the time he ran last year by 2 and a half minutes. Two minutes faster than I did last year. My calves still hurt, but they felt better when I was running that cool down then any other time after the race. Hopefully they'll be okay. Tomorrow I may take the day off, and see what they feel like for the next few days. If anyone has any recommendations on the calf, please tell. | 