LM warmup, 2 miles in 15:24, 7:42/mi, HR 147 with 0.5 mile 10K effort. 10K race in 38:22, 7:11/mi, HR 168. 2 mile cooldown in 17:07, 8:33/mi, HR 130. Cool morning and foggy (~48F). Race started at 8:30, so a 5:45 wakeup and 1 hr drive to the race. Uneventful warmup. Race goals were to PR on this flat course, and try to get under 38:00. Lined up in the front, and noticed at least 2 really fast-looking runners in the area. Turns out there were 3. On-time start, and I went to about 8th right out of the gate. Had a bit of a fast start, but not as bad as some. Got passed by one more runner after the start (about 0.5 miles in), but I reeled him in before too long and wound up passing a few more, so I'd say my start was good. Garmin splits were 6:07, 6:12, 6:08, 6:06, 6:17, 6:01, & 1:28 for a garmin distance of 6.27. The slow miles were on the Chehalis Western Trail, which it turns out at this time of year, it completely covered in leaves for most of the length we ran. Not too slippery, but traction wasn't ideal. Reeled in a couple of runners in the first mile or so, another on mile 2, a third on mile 3, and the last one late in the 6th mile. The last one to real in was the hardest, but the one I worked hardest at....I really didn't want to get beat by a guy 16 years older than me! Fortunately, I managed to suffer a bit more towards the end, and got him by about 10 seconds. Felt pretty decent all things considered throughout the race. Breathing was pretty well controlled for the first 3 miles, then went to just hard for the next 2.5. Only the last 0.7 was it really starting to feel stressed, and that's about when my form really wanted to come apart (but didn't)! So, happy to get the PR. Wished I could've gone under 38, but that leaves a nice juicy goal for my next 10K. The next fastest runner was the 3rd place guy in 35:20, so I've got quite a bit of work to catch him :). Now, only a nice sunny day where I get to fix my fence that took a hit from a tree knocked down by the winds last Friday.
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