A great day! Fast course, but Mile 2 was tough! My son was running this race too, and he wanted to go for a sub 20, with his backup goal of sub 20:15, as that is what is needed to be subseeded at Peachtree next July 4. I knew this should be a PR race for me, but with all the hill work I did this week, I tried to do the noble thing and asked Alex if he wanted me to pace him to a sub 20 on the drive to the race. My legs cringed when he said 'no, I got it, go for your PR' We got there about 15minutes early, did some stretching and downhill strides to warmup. The race starts off with a big downhill to wake your legs up, or should I say put them in a state of shock! I gave him the best pacing advice I could offer and wished him well. My stretch goal was sub 18, but did not honestly think that was possible on tired legs, that is a 5:45 pace. My secondary goal was to try to hold under a 6:00 avg pace, which would also insure i got a PR. First mile was fast, i took advantage of the big hill, and hit the Mile mark at 5:40. This is pretty much where I wanted to be, but I immediately knew a sub 18was out of the question, as that was the biggest downhill, and shortly into Mile 2 there was a big uphill and then a long flat section. My Mile 2 split was 6:22, i was very happy with this. Mile 3 started with another decent size uphill, but the last 0.8 miles of the race was pretty much downhill. I started pushing harder at start of Mile 3, knowing that when I crested the hill it would be smooth going from there. Just before Mile 3 I was able to pass the runner I had been trying to reel in. Unfortunately, after him there was no one close enough to set my sights on, but the thought of not getting passed by anyone helped me keep pushing. Mile 3 split was 5:50, it had lots of downhill! i finished the last 0.14at a 5:09 pace, which is pretty strong, but my legs really never felt like they had another gear, which usually they do in the last 1/4mile. I was pleased with 18:34 &a new PR. I ran back about 100 yards from the finish where I could still see the clock &look for Alex. Right on cue at about 19:45he came into sight and was looking strong. I started yelling for him to put the hammer down and get the sub 20. He was cruising past people and making me really proud! My yelling got louder!! He finished in 19:55! He was totally psyched ... and considering he has only been ruuning 4 months, so a pretty awesome time for a inexperienced 14 year old! Something tells me that by next year we will be racing each other! Today, we both won 1st in Age Group :) Ran a mile cool down after the race & then 9.6 miles at a 9:30 pace in the afternoon.
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