[S]he Conquers Who Endures

2.5 mile warmup to the race at a 9:00 min/mi pace, felt like I was dragging. The course is a lot of rolling hills (I guess that's why they call it "Highland Park"), and the forecast says we will have 18 MPH sustained winds. Great, won't be a fun, fast race. Oh well, I had a great 12 miler earlier in the week so what should I expect? Took a honey stinger before the race, just for the caffeine. :) Started out comfortably fast not looking at my watch to go by feel. First mile was 7:12. Okay, I'll take that. This course is rolling hills and I new the first mile had a nice net downhill. The second and third miles were supposed to be more uphills, those splits were: 7:14, 7:23. Was feeling very fortunate for running all those bridge repeats in Boston/Cambridge! Mile 4 was a little easier, 7:10. Mile 5 to finish was supposed to be pretty tough. Mile 5 was: 7:20. Okay, feeling very fatigued but it's only 1.2 miles left. I haven't done this kind of running in a while, just focus on improving your threshold up a treacherous hill wind a terrible headwind!! Ahhh! Mile 6: 7:20. Last 0.2 mile was 6:44 pace. Watch time after crossing the finish and stopped running: 44:43.97. Expected chip time: 44:42 or 44:43. Posted finish time: 44:46?? Whatevs. Still an awesome run for me. 2.5 mile jog home at 9:00 pace basking in my glory. :)