AM- 6 ez PM- BMW Performance Classic 2 mile race. The only BMW factory in America is in Greenville, and they have a sweet track where they teach driving skills on a multitude of surfaces (slick track, wet track, curvy, hilly, etc). I felt sore and tired, but wanted to do my best at what was obviously a young guy's race (quite a few high schools showed up). At the start, I found myself just behind the lead pack, about 25th place by 400 yards, and just caught the guys who fell off pace. I didn't get passed after the first few minutes, but just don't have the speed the young guys do to stay with the pack. First mile was slight downhill and was 5:07, where I pulled slightly ahead of Masters runner and teammate Philippe. Second mile was more uphill with a headwind, though I bagged 2 or 3 more guys and ran 5:30. 10:37 total, good enough for 17th place out of 659 runners (Garmin's seemed to measure 2.04 miles, which would give me 10:24 for 2 miles). 11 guys ahead of me were teenagers, 4 were in their 20's, and only my co-worker Jim was in his 30's. Like I said, a young guy's race. Enjoyable, esp. the tons of pretzals, cookies, fruit, and sandwiches at the finish, plus they had the results online by the time I got home. My pregnant wife (9 months pregnant today!) and kids did a great job cheering, too. 6 miles total. On a related note, GE had won the open division for 52 straight Corporate Shield races, competing against the other Greenville companies. The streak dated back to 2005. However, at the race 3 weeks ago, Michelin won. I skipped the race to do the Xterra race. If I had run, we would have won. So, I promised our team captain a new era of GE domination. We won today's race- a new streak has started. Now it's time to look at what's happening at Wasatch 100 for the first time today, then shower and sleep before my last long run tomorrow before UROC. 2 weeks!
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