I had two goals for this race; don't walk, and keep the overall pace under 7 minutes. I managed a 6:46 pace overall, and never walked so in that sense, I felt successful. It was cold, around 10 degrees. Despite this, there was a large turnout of around 300 people for both the 10k and 5k. The course is slightly downhill for the first 2 miles, then roughly flat for 2 miles, then slightly uphill for the final miles. (500' ascent) I really wanted a break around mile four, winding through neighborhoods. The roads were mostly clear, but there was a bit of ice, especially near the finish. A day later, I'm a little on the sore side in my hip flexors. I typically run this pace for a mile or two, but it's been quite some time since I ran this hard consecutively. Mile splits were 6:29, 6:45. 6:51, 6:42, 6:59 6:53, 6:24.
After I finished, I went back and found my mom, sister and bro-in-law and the course and ran them in. The hot shower felt great, followed by a wonderful thanksgiving feast with all my family.
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