my makeup may be flaking

I didn't really have much of a plan for this race. My calf had been bugging me for a few days and I only really made the decision to run it the day before. I wasn't expecting much, but I just wanted to stay in contention for second with the winter racing circuit. I figured that a 1:21-1:22 might be good.

Made a big mistake right at the start by trying to stay with Mitchell Collins, who is in 3rd place in the circuit. I ended up running 5:30 for the 1st mile even after letting him go. It didn't feel super difficult but I really should know better. I think the few days off made my legs feel fresher and tricked me into thinking I could run faster. I was about 17:45 for the 5k and 36:30 for the 10k, which are still about my best 5k and 10k that I've done recently. By mile 4 I already felt done, but I knew I had to keep pushing. As the splits show, I really fell apart at about mile 9 and then just sort of maintained. I got passed by the top 3 women in the last two miles and that helped me pick it up a little I think.

Splits (5:30,5:46,5:55,5:56,6:03,6:03,6:18,6:18,6:38,6:27,6:31,6:37,6:22,31)

The good news is that I was faster than I thought I would be, my calf didn't bother me, I was faster than my goal marathon pace and I still have ~30 second lead over Mitchell with 1 race to go.

Ogden section of BST w/ Devra, Sariah, Rosy.

Pretty disappointing race. I went out conservatively and then was never able to pick it up. Splits are pretty meaningless:6:24,6:39,5:52,6:02,5:09,7:00,6:04,6:52,6:21,6:31,6:15,6:31,7:03 for last 1.1. After mile 7 I tried to take splits where the line was painted on the road.

At the start of the race my heart was really acting up, then in the middle my legs felt shot, then at the end I just felt sick. My legs and heart actually felt fine the last few miles, so I'm not really sure what was holding me back. I feel like I should have been 3 minutes faster. Did 20 miles total which was not pleasant.

Really considered giving this one a miss. I've been worried about the state of my left leg for a while now. Dr says I'm probably ok to keep going to Ogden so I'm just going to limp to the finish.

Last race in the winter series. Before the race, I was 2nd overall (over 20 minutes behind Ben, meaning I needed to take a run at the 30k WR to beat him). I only had a 30 second lead on 3rd and about a 4 minute lead on 4th. I'd lost time to both guys in the half and so I knew I had my work cut out to stay in 2nd.

At the start of the race my leg actually felt fine. The biggest problem I was having was my heart, which even at a super relaxed pace was skipping. I ran with Ben, Noah and Mitchell (3rd place in series) for about half a mile and then dropped back as I clearly was working way too hard. Right at the mile (6:17), Mark Payne (4th place in series) caught me and we started running together. I stuck with him for the next 5 miles (6:35,12:35,6:31,6:23) but it was hard to stay with him. He eventually dropped me and caught Mitchell who had been running about 10 seconds ahead of us.

Next couple of miles I went to a dark place as I watched the two of them pull away (6:38,6:43). My pace was really pathetic, the pace that I would normally run on an easy training run, but I just couldn't get myself to move any faster. Mark had already opened up a 50 second gap on me and Mitchell was ~20 seconds ahead. Not good. We had a long way to go.

I picked it up a little in 9 (6:35), but then I had to stop to go the the bathroom at halfway, I think because of the painkillers. Mile 10 was 6:56 but that included a 41 second stop. When I got out I was now almost 1 minute back from Mitchell and about 90 seconds back from Mark. Mark wouldn't gain anymore time on me the rest of the way.

6:15,6:19 for 11 and 12 which are downhill, we're now running the striders half course which makes the landscape more familiar. 6:27 for Mile 13 and all of a sudden I've caught up to Mitchell. Another 6:27 for mile 14, but now I'm starting to feel lousy. 6:43,6:33,6:48,6:43 then 4:19 for the last .64. Not a very strong finish but I keep the same distance to Mark (who only beats me by 90seconds) and I ended up beating Mitchell by 3 minutes. This meant that I held on to second in the circuit.

Second straight inexplicably bad race (Striders was explicable, I think). I have been a little gimpy, but it didn't feel like that slowed me down and the relative rest in training shouldn't hurt me this much. I still think I can run sub 2:50 at Ogden, but I don't think it's a given like I did 2 months ago.