easy warmup with strides - still felt pretty tight. Race was 3 laps around 5k course. There relay teams and a 5k race running concurrently. Spent the whole race slowly chipping away at one of the lead pack falling off the too fast pace for the first couple miles. Stuck to my plan very well - 6:10's, even splits. I was happy to see that my first mile was right on target, even with the usual foolishness of a few and the consistently faster runners. I often have made the mistake of chasing these faster guys since I know them so well from the other races. Hopefully, this will be the start of a smarter racing plan. Often times, like today, an even more manageable pace turns in to me catching some of these guys near the end. That was the case today - 6:08, 6:08, 6:16?, 6:08, 6:09, 6:09, 6:10, 6:08, 6:12, 2:32 Caught the 4th place guy at mile 8, but little did I know that he was some crazy ironman guy... I pass him, he sticks with me, right behind me and huffing and puffing pretty hard - I admit his breathing threw me off... he blows by me with about 0.2 to go and I don't have the sprint speed to catch him - what a tough runner! :) I was all out crossing the line and he put about 5 seconds on me! 58:00 - PR. Happiness is now a pumpkin spice latte and some ice for my knees :)
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