Beautiful sunny day out on the island with a few hundred cool runners. Today I was hoping to break my fastest time on this course which I did not, however I felt strong today and I think the course is about .5 mile longer secondary to a start/finish area change. I really love this course and how it is set up with the hardest steeper section in the middle third of the race and most of last 4 miles downish. I also decided to not use Gu as it always make my stomach churn and I just sipped on a handheld of flat Coke about a swallow a mile which fit the bill just fine for this distance and time. Splits going up the first long switches 9:21, 10:26, 9:10 felt good here just keeping tucked in behind Oreo so he wouldnt see me, plus keeping him in eyeshot gave me some extra motivation to keep the pace strong. Next two miles down hill 8:06, 8:05. Then the push up the steep to Elephant Head aid station 10:15. Caught up with Oreo here and I was feeling strong and had preplanned to try and do the downhill fast as I could 6:55. Settled in behind a strong runnergirl for mile 8 at 9:51, then 10:35 going up the switches, which I love and just seem to fit my eye. I was lucky to get ahead of the horsetrain that Oreo got behind and I was really happy to be able to keep a running pace up the whole incline. Mile 10 9:40 Mile 11 though 16 8:51, 9:11, 10:41, 8:22, 9:04, 8:44 I also took 600 of Ibuprofen at the aid and that help stave off the usual hip pain I get the last 5 miles. Didnt stop my clock so I dont have the split on the last .5. Had 3 brothers running this one. Would have been fun to see if Oreo could have caught me the last 5 if he didnt loose his lunch. Hes a beast when hes feeling good. Hairdog finished strong and Fritz survived to tell the tale...barely. Was a fun day on the island.
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