my makeup may be flaking

After a few interruptions...senior year of Atlanta woooo!

My guess for this race was sub 1:19 so I ended up being pretty close. There was no clock at the finish line so I couldn't see how close I was and I didn't feel like sprinting because my stomach was upset.

My stomach was bothering me pretty much all morning before the race. I thought it might be just be nerves and hoped it would go away. It never did, it just kind of got worse throughout the race. So the fact that I ran as well as I did is encouraging.

The course was subtly changed this year, but I think it only affected mile 11. Based on my splits it could have been as much as a ten second difference.

Mile 1 (6:06; 2016 5:51; 2015; 6:07)

As usual at the start tons of people went out really fast. The first mile is the slowest (it's the reverse of the final mile which is the fastest) so it's not like I started off really slow. There was even a guy wearing a 1:40 pace team bib next to me.

Mile 2 (6:02, 12:08; 6:01, 11:52; 6:02, 12:09)

Ran next to some Emory XC runner who was just doing a long run. I got into a nice rhythm running with him. I noticed there was a headwind. Started to get somedownhill but running with the XC runner felt too difficult. I caught up to a guy wearing a 1:30 pace team bib as well as Juan Soto. I decided that I would run with these guys for a few miles.

Mile 3 (5:58, 18:06; 5:59, 17:51; 5:59, 18:08)

I fell behind a little getting some powerade but easily caught them again. Too easily, in fact. Juan and I ran together in the ten mile so I thought he would have no trouble hanging but he seemed to be struggling a little. I decided to just pick up the pace and run how I felt.

Mile 4 (5:53, 23:59; 5:50, 23:41; 6:02, 24:10)

The fourth mile is very downhill and I just cruised down it without really trying. Got passed by two guys running together (Will Decamps and Whit Silby) neither of whom I knew. Looking at the results, Will beat me by 2 mins last year. For some reason I always panic during this mile and start to notice all the problems that I'm having. I felt cold and that my hands were swelling (meaning low blood pressure, maybe?). I just tried to remember that I felt pretty bad at this point last year and still was ok.

Mile 5 (6:07, 30:06; 6:01, 29:42; 6:11, 30:21)

Heading through Atlantic station I felt like there was still a slight headwind even though we were now heading east instead of north. I passed up a young guy wearing only flowery split shorts and no shirt. He was holding his stomach like he had a side stitch. That's too bad. Will and Whit passed up one guy ahead of me and were pulling away. I was now 24 seconds behind last year, but I was still ahead of 2015 pace so I figured that sub 1:20 was still doable.

Mile 6 (6:08, 36:14; 6:16, 35:58; 6:17, 36:38)

Midtown Atlanta is on a slight rise so we have to run up and over it to get to Piedmont Park on the other side. When we hit the hill I found that I had an extra gear and managed to pick up my intensity. I briefly almost caught up to Will and Whit but my stomach wasn't having it. I did manage to catch up to Karl Burkhardt who latched on when we got to the park.

Mile 7 (5:53, 42:07; 5:59, 41:57; 5:50, 42:28)

Going through the park Karl and I ran together I was really feeling limited now by my stomach. But I figured that 5:53 pace is pretty good. Will was 15 seconds ahead at 10K, Whit was 22 seconds ahead. I could also see Jacob Giammarco who was 23 seconds ahead and Sven Henningson who was 30 seconds ahead. Juan was only ten seconds behind me.

Mile 8 (6:34, 48:41; 6:32, 48:29; 6:28, 48:56)

This is the toughest mile on the course, being about 80% uphill. Did not really push it that hard here but it was slower than I thought it would be. I think I was lulled into a false sense of security as I dropped Karl and passed Jacob pretty easily. I could barely see anyone anymore.

Mile 9 (5:57, 54:38; 6:11, 54:40; 6:04, 55:00)

I did a quick self assessment. Legs felt fine, breathing was fine. My stomach was not good, so I just told myself that the faster I ran the sooner I would be done. I put in a big surge and passed up one guy who was struggling. Was pretty shocked to see how good this split was (possible tailwind).

Mile 10 (6:08, 1:00:46; 6:20, 1:00:00; 6:14, 1:01:14)

This mile was the worst. A steep downhill followed by a gradual uphill was really not what I needed. I still felt really strong however. I got a big boost when I saw the split of 1:00:46, I knew that a sub 1:20 was pretty much guaranteed.

Mile 11 (5:58, 1:06:44; 6:24, 1:07:24; 6:07, 1:07:21)

Really felt good now, as the miles were ticking down and I was speeding up. I wasn't really gaining on the people in front of me however.

Mile 12 (5:57, 1:12:41; 6:08, 1:13:32; 6:04, 1:13:25)

Finally managed to catch back up to Will as well as Tim Brooks who were running side by side. I think they were both pretty beat as they just cheered me on as I went past.

Mile 13.1 (6:25, 1:19:06; 6:32, 1:20:04; 6:29, 1:19:54)

This last mile has quite a bit of downhill. If it wasn't for my stomach, I probably had enough left to run in the 5:30s. Instead I manged a 5:49. I also had a brief moment of doubt. My splits from miles 10,11 and 12 seemed unrealistically fast so I was concerned that they were wrong and we were about to get a long mile to make up for it (it's happened to me before) so I didn't really start to kick until the last 30 seconds.

I ended up 12th overall (the results say 13th but they also say that some guy ran 2 min/mile for the second half). Despite closing well I hardly passed anyone which I think is a reflection of the wind being with us in the second half. Even though I was limited by my stomach I'm not disappointed at all as the race still went really well.