Ah, what could be the last edition of my beloved freedom run (for me anyway- I've run it five times now but am moving to Minnesota). Got a terrible sleep last night. It's frustrating that I seem to be making a habit of this, especially on the night before races. You might first think it is anxiety, but I don’t feel very anxious at night. Maybe I’m just a little anxious and that makes it hard to fall asleep because the room is so hot.
Anyway, I was like the first one there. I forgot most people don’t warm up for these things. Had some digestive issues but for the majority of the race they didn’t bother me (last half mile I felt like throwing up). Went through one mile in 5:30 and I was surprised at how slow that was. I had allowed a 15 meter gap to open up because I didn’t feel ready to go faster. Hit 2 miles in 10:23 (4:53 split) and that felt a little better. By now I am chilling in the front with the leaders, not wanting to make a move even though it feels pretty easy. 15:10 at 3 miles (4:47 split). Started feeling tired at mile four and a little uneasy as there were still four of us. Finally took the lead on an uphill on this mile, hoping to drop people. On the downhill I get caught again. Then I push on ahead and lead for almost a mile, but I know at least one person is still there. He sprints by me with 1/2 mile to go and I think it’s over. On the last push uphill I actually catch him a little but still lose by one second, running 31:16.
I feel fine about that. Haven’t run anything hard since mid May. There’s only like a 40 foot elevetatjom drop and the hills make up for it. Realistically I could probably run a track 10K in about the same time as I did twice earlier this year. That’s not bad given the circumstances.
Fun fact: the past three years I’ve run this race, I’ve gotten 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd, but over the course of those years I was only 11 seconds off of being the three time defending champion.
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