Well, it was certainly a beautiful day for a race, but the temps were almost too warm by the finish. Temps at the start were about 55-60 degrees and 70+ by the finish, with virtually no wind. Got a 15 minute warm-up in before the race and felt terrible right away. Felt like I had a high stomach cramp, right in my sternum. I ended up fighting this through the first 6-7 miles of the race. But I pushed through it and came out the other side ok. The course itself contained about 1.5-2 miles of downhill through mile 3, then a couple miles of flat followed by a few slight hills, another mile of flat followed by a downhill/flat/uphill combo where the hills were about 250 yards and considerable steepness. After that it was a double back over the first 6 miles of the course in reverse. I was shooting for 6:30s, but had concerns given the way my body was feeling. All in all it worked out ok though. I settled right into my pace and basically ran a bit under and a bit over throughout depending on terrain. Was thinking at mile 11 that I was good to just shut down and coast in, but I dug deep and came up with a little extra for a solid finish. Splits as follows:
1 - 6:24
2 - 6:35 (1st mile was mostly flat, with this mile downhill. As a result I was a bit concerned about slowing too much, but came back to pace with mile 3)
3 - 6:25
4 - 6:12 (First mile in the park where it is flat as a pancake. Good mile that didn't really feel like I was pushing it too much -- stopped looking at the watch at this point and switched over to running by feel)
5 - 6:23 (some uphill in this mile, but nothing major)
6 - 6:39 (working through a stitch here, cramp above the stomach threatening to take me down)
7 - 6:23 (good downhill section to help me breath my way through the cramp and re-establish some confidence)
8 - 6:36 (actually pleased with this split as the 250 yard, fairly steep hill was in this section)
9 - 6:24 (trying to pick up the pace and increase through the finish - down in the flat so its not too taxing to do this)
10 - 6:31 (starting to get tired and starting to entertain notions of just coasting through to the finish for 6:30s)
11 - 6:46 (going uphill now and getting quite tired, not sure if I can dig down for anything more)
12 - 6:42 (still some rolling uphills, and I'm almost shot)
13 - 6:19 (digging deep for something left down inside, still uphill, but I just passed a dude I've been working towards for over 3 miles)
13.1 - :35 (all I've got left through to the finish here)
Total Time 1:24:55 (I've done it, exceeded my goal of 6:30s averaging around 6:29s?)
Very happy about this and very tired. Quality race run feeling terrible the first half. Time for some rest before work.
Pegasus - 86.25
Gel Speedstar - 90.25 | 