The race was supposed to start at 5:30 this morning, so I got up at 4:00 and Kimia dropped me off near the starting line at about 4:50. I warmed up and was all ready by 5:30, but the start was a little late, so we didn't get going until 5:45. The weather was decent, but it was a little cold, and the streets were wet. There was probably a slight tailwind during the early miles, little to no wind in the middle, and a slight headwind later on. I have had a cold for a few days now, however I was hoping that the impact would be negligible. After the gun there was quick separation between the top group of 4 guys, and everyone else, with the top group consisting of myself, Paul, Seth Pilkington, and Brad Osguthorpe. Splits are as follows: 1 - 4:54 - mostly downhill, but with a little uphill near the end. 2 - 5:17 (10:11) - uphill mile, where we crested the hill just before the end of the mile. 3 - 4:42 (14:53) - screaming downhill on this mile. 4 - 4:50 (19:43) - a lot of downhill as well, but with a few rollers in it. Starts to rain some. I also noticed that my breathing was really hard, even though I did not feel like I was really pushing the pace incredibly hard. 5 - 4:59 (24:42) - a few more rollers than the previous mile. 6 - 5:05 (29:47) - I got a side cramp early on in this mile, and got dropped by the group. I was never able to recover from this (although the cramp went away after about a mile) and I struggled the entire rest of the race. 7 - 5:08 (34:55) - Struggling to maintain focus. 8 - 5:12 (40:07) - I am no losing much ground on the leaders, but I am still losing ground, albeit slowly. 9 - 5:12 (45:19) - I still feel decent physically, but things just do not feel right. I do not feel smooth, or comfortable. 10 - 5:18 (50:37) - I am slowing down even more now, although I really don't feel any different than I did earlier in the race. 11 - 5:17 (55:54) - 1 second faster than the previous mile, so I am glad that I slowed the bleeding a little bit. I realized that I was cutting it close as far as breaking 1:07:00 was concerned. 12 - 5:21 (1:01:15) - I lost focus even more during this mile, and slowed down more. I knew that I would need to pick up the pace if I was going to break 1:07:00 and get the $250 bonus. 13.1 - 5:44 (1:06:59) - I finished well during the last mile despite a few twists and turns, and a short but steep uphill going over the bridge (5:10 pace for the last 1.109). I feel like I should have been able to maintain that pace during the previous miles, but mentally and physically I did not have it all there today. Things just did not seem to really click for me today. So, overall I am glad that I broke 1:07:00 and got the bonus, plus another $150 for placing fourth. I guess getting a little money when you don't have much always feels good, but even still, I know that I should have been able to run significantly faster than I did today. I feel like my performance at the Provo City Half was much stronger than today's performance, despite running a slower time, and I never felt right physically today. I do think that the cold had something to do with it, but I also never felt like I was really running with a good rhythm for the majority of the race, and mentally I was thrown off. Seth won the race, with Paul finishing in second, and Brad coming in third. I was expecting Seth and Brad to run more or less how they did, but Paul surprised me a bit. All in all, those guys all ran really well today. I even wonder if I would have placed higher than 3rd or 4th if I did not feel a little under the weather and if I was able to run better, both physically and mentally.
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