I ran a two mile warm-up before the race today.
I wanted to run 5:45 pace today and see how long I could hold on. The race went out pretty fast. There was a Kenyan woman who went out in 5:30. Every time I came up on her shoulder she would surge. A Russian woman tried to go with us early, but quickly fell off the pace. After about two and a half miles of back and forth, I decided to put my own little push in. To my surprise, it worked! I was leading after three miles, and led the rest of the way. The good thing about that is, I won. The bad thing is that after about 8 miles at 5:45's I seemed to settle into a pace between 5:50's and 6:00's. Even when it felt like I was pushing, I just kind of stayed around that pace. There wasn't even any men to draft off. I must have been between groups. I think I could have run faster had there been some competition. At least, I like to think so. I can't be disappointed though. I have improved almost 3 minutes in a month. I guess the marathon training is beginning to pay off.
I cooled down 2 miles after the race. | 