Navigated the public transport system this morning to run an 8k race in nearby Niepolomice. The race started at noon in town and was on a paved trail except for about 4k that was in the beautiful Niepolomic forest, which was absolutely stunning. My watch did not save my splits of course, but I have a vague idea of where they were. Race started with people bunched in like sardines - it was almost clausterphobic, so I was glad when the gun went off. I was probably the only American in the race, as the field was almost entired Polish (which makes sense). The weather was nice, mostly clouldy and around 65 degrees, cool when the clouds reigned and muggy when the sun came out - nice and cool in the forest. My goal was to hit 5:45's and just maintain to get under 29 for the 8k - I just missed that goal, but probably not by much. The course was long by about .08 or .1, so I can venture to speculate that I probably hit the actual 8k mark in somewhere between 29:05-29:10, perhaps faster. As it was, my official time was 29:28, my watch, which isn't super reliable sometimes, had the race at 5.05, and regardless, the race was definitely a little long. Still, my splits were likely all over the place. Hit the first mile in 5:46, which was right on, then the 2nd was I believe 5:49, then I hit two between 5:55-6:00, then the last split, which flashed well short of the finish line (indicating 5 miles) was something in the ballpark of 5:36 (downhill) and may have lost signal in the forest. FInished in 16th place and 6th in my division. Was happy with the result, but upset my watch didn't get an accurate split for at least 5 miles. Regardless of if the race was long, it was fun, and even the off-road portion was beautiful. I had decent energy, but my turnover was degraded, probably because of the 5k a few days ago. Regardless, fun to run and I enjoyed the experience immensely!
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