I ran this race as part of my long run, at the end of a long week, at the end of 3 long weeks. Needless to say, my legs are pretty shot. So, today was a confidence booster.
I ran 14 miles in 7;22 average, stopping after ten to pick up my racing flats and singlet before heading to the park. I ran the course to make sure I knew where all the turns were. I really just wanted to run fast enough to win, but kept 6:13's in my head as a goal. That's 2:43 marathon pace.
I started conservatively, and spent the first mile picking off all the guys who sprinted the first mile. I took an elbow in the chest from some neanderthal. I hit the mile in 6:00, so I decided to stay as consistent as possible. 6:00 at mile 2 and 6:03 at mile 3. At this point I had worked my way up into 3rd place behind Teren (who was three minutes ahead) and a high school boy. I thought I could sneak by the high school boy, but he saw me in the last 100 meters, so he sprinted in. Oh well, I was happy to break 19. I had 6:00 average for 3.15 miles, but garmins don't always measure right. I was happy to stay under my goal pace, and happy to run a completely even race.
I cooled down three more miles to finish 20 for the day. I would like to run a minute faster next week at Murray. I should have good competition, and I plan on backing off, and not running 14 before the race. Who knows, though? Maybe I'm so marathon trained only 6:00 pace will come out regardless!
I learned that sometimes it's good to race tired, and incorporate races into training. I usually don't like to race without being pretty fresh. But, I need to race more frequently. So, today was good.
We went to the Taylorsville Dayzz Parade, and now I'm beat. It was so hot this morning.
I recommend Taylorsville Dayzz 5k. They pulled in a bunch of sponsors and put on a great race. They even had money this year. 150 for the win. (Maybe I should keep my small town race secrets!)
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