AM: Indianapolis 500 Festival 15k. Final race of the series. Warmed up 3.1 with an about a third of a mile or so around marathon pace toward the end. Active stretching and drills. Lined up near the front. Some guy was talking about hitting 5:20s so I figured I better get behind him. After the gun went off I hear a man and a woman say they were settling on 6:05s, so I figured I would follow them. Mile 1 was what I wanted: 6:08. After the first mile I went out in front of the chase pack. Well, if you are still a chase pack running 6 minute miles, while watching 2 guys on the horizon ripping 5:20s. I got a bit fast and didn't do a very good job pacing us. Mile 2 was a hair under 6:00, but rounded to 6:00. The lead women got back in front of me and she was met with an awesome amount of cheering from the slower folks coming the opposite way. As for me, I was thinking "If she beats you don't include it in your race report because if Andrea gets wind of it she will make fun of you." I think her, another guy, and me exchanged 3rd place a few times. Nothing too eventful. Mile 3, 4, 5: 6:09, 6:04, 6:00. Around mile 4 my left glute started doing its thing. It straightened out. Again, no pain, it just doesn't track right.
I could hear the lead woman breathing pretty hard going into the 10k mark, but I was also working pretty hard (I can never tell if it is like body odor where you think everyone else is bad, but you are worse than you think). I checked my 10k split just now. 37:36 for 6.22 miles. PR! I dropped the lead woman and her friend about this time. A guy came from behind and we exchanged a bit going into the last 5k. He got out ahead of me around mile 7 or so. During this mile we hit a good headwind (enough that over a small roller I was running a lap pace of almost 7 minutes, mostly because I was tired but the headwind wasn't helping). Worked really hard to get my seconds back. I thought that I was going to be done, but I rallied. I was running with the guy who passed me in the 10k last month (he went on to beat me again, although I think I took the brunt of the wind for him). Mile 6, 7, 8, 9, partial: 5:58, 6:10, 6:11, 6:19, (5:47 pace for partial. Weak.) The headwind picked up at mile 9 again. I was having to work very hard. Tried to put a target on the guy in front of me, but I couldn't catch him so I kind of coasted. I've run some great times improvement wise this year, but I haven't had much of a kick. Peaking at 5:04 on a gradual downhill just doesn't cut it. Cooled down with 2 laps on the canal trail for 5 miles. PM: North side - 4.1 miles
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