4 second PR. Bad time considering the quality of workouts I have been doing, but good time considering no taper and 74 degree weather. First mile got stuck in the crowd and still went 5:24, second mile went through at 11:03 so that mile was 5:39 and went through mile 3 at 16:58 so that mile was 5:55 lol. Those splits are horrible. I felt bad right off the gun. I thought about dropping out of the race in the first 200m (I usually think about it at some point, but not in the first 200 usually). I only thought I could do fairly well when I saw my first mile split. On a cold course had I been tapered I could have held that pace, but I had do play the cards that were dealt and that I dealt myself (through not tapering). The first mile is slightly downhill and the second and third miles have some slight uphills but nothing on that scope. I think seeing my splits I allowed myself to slack off a bit in miles 2 and 3 because I knew I was gonna PR. The heat affected me a lot as well. I know I am just making excuses but I think they are legit. I trained through this race and payed for it, but I PR'ed despite that because thats where my fitness is. I would give myself 15 seconds for the heat and another 15 for no taper. So I plan to go 16:55 by the end of the season. There were 3000 people in this race along with 55 elites so I was pretty happy to finish top 100. It was the 5k road national championship and I stretched right next to shalane flanagan and some of the other elites. I even accidentally got in her way when she was leaving for her warmup. Maybe I will post a 'missed connection'... I think we had a moment. j/k | 