I decided to do this race around 9pm the night before. Milton is my childhood hometown and I've run the race about a dozen or so times in my life. It's always a hot time of the year to race a 10K and this year was no different. Since I've been running slow and holding high miles with no speed work I figured I'd treat it as a springboard workout back into regular training. Temps at the start would reach 95 degrees with high humidity and I knew it was going to be a matter of survival out there today. The high for the day reached 112 another state high temp record. I got out to a 5:50 pace 1st mile start, which is all downhill. On the way down a nice breeze was blowing in my face. That breeze made the first 3 miles a little more comfortable. there were about 6 guys in front of me with Zac Bruns way out front. He ran a 1:10 at the 1/2 champs so, I knew he wasn't going to fade much in the heat. As for the rest of them, I figured they were all out way too fast for the conditions. By the time I reached the 2nd mile I passed 3rd place like he was crawling with a 6:04 split (not a good thing for him so early in the race on such a hot day). I was able to see 2nd place about 20-30 seconds in front of me as I came up the 1st hill. I was feeling good and I was patiently waiting for 2nd to come back to me. By the time I hit mile 3 I had closed the gap between me and 2nd place to about 15 seconds. My split at mile 3 was slightly slower, but mostly uphill with a 6:08. I started to get dizzy running down the hill, the heat was cooking me! The course had a water stop at mile 1.5, 2.5, and mile 5. Since the course was an out and back it allowed me to hit the water stops on the way back as well. I was using them all, dumping water overhead and drinking down 1 cup. Right before mile 4 I would pull up along side 2nd place. The runner clung onto my pace and drafted me for about 1/2 a mile before he would slowly fade. I came through mile 4 in 6:03, which felt like a little harder effort than the last 3 miles. The wind was now completely with me for the last 2.1 miles making the race a lot hotter. First place was no where in sight so I knew I had 2nd locked up unless someone chased me down from behind. The last 2 miles were really hot. I managed a 6:12, but as slow as that split was I felt like the race was getting much much harder than I wanted it to be. Mile 6 was just a matter of finishing without falling over splitting a 6:14, and a jog into the finish area. Somehow I managed to rip off my tag, but it took all the energy I had to rip it from my bib. I grabbed some ice and a bunch of water then went to the shade to cool off. I was a little dizzy, but not Boston dizzy. I knew I'd pull out of it after cooling down. About ten minutes later I was walking around talking to old high school coaches and friends. My official times was way off my best time, but I was really happy with the effort and thought I ran a very smart race. It was a good hot weather race redemption effort to my Boston disaster. Slow time, but the right effort today. Finished with a very short cool down, although there was nothing cool about it.
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