Pretty fun run this morning. I haven't raced since May so my body was in for a surprise. Last year was won by Max King, local running legend (Olympic Trials in the steeplechase, 2:19 in NYC 2 weeks ago and US National Trail Marathon champion 6 days later). Needless to say, I was happy he didn't show up. It's fun to race against him, but honestly we 'race' for about 100 meters and then he's out of reach. Still solid competition with JJ Moses, Neil Olsen and Bob Julian. From the gun I went with the leaders but settled into 5th place behind the lead pack. I could tell right that the next 7 miles weren't going to be easy. First mile in 5:28. Moved into 4th and 3rd place during mile 2 as the top 2 runners increased their distance and I didn't want to loose too much ground if I wanted a chance to win. Second mile in 5:30. I'm just under 11 minutes at this point and figure I'll be happy just to run an even pace and finish around 44 minutes.
There was a slight uphill on mile three and JJ lost some steam and I passed him and sat on the leader until just before mile 4. Mile 3 in 5:31 and Mile 4 in 5:36. I could tell the pace was slowing and I wanted to look strong right here (even if I wasn't feeling strong) so I put on a surge right after the turnaround. Mile 5 in 5:26. From this point on I was just hanging on for the win. It's a cool feeling. Years ago I would have let negative thoughts creep into my mind and think of all the ways I could loose. I wish I was mentally strong in HS and college like I am now. I could still hear JJ about 20-30 feet behind me when his Garmin beeped at the mile markers. Mile 6 in 5:23 and Mile 7 in 5:18. Final mile I had to dodge walkers here and there but nothing too bad. I still didn't know what kind of surge JJ was capable of so I tried to finish as strong as I could. Mile 8 in 5:15. Total time in 43:30. Reward - A frozen turkey breast. Nice.
I'm happy with the race but I'm nowhere near 'racing shape.' It hurt worse than in should have and my calves are all sorts of sore right now. Bummer. Oh well. That's what happens when I don't race for 6 months. Other than yesterday's 1 mile tempo, I don't think I've ran any miles in the 5 minute range. 99% have been 7:00-7:15 pace for the past 2 months as I've come back from injury. Anyway, it is what it is. 3 mile warm up and 2 mile cool down as I ran back to finish with Jill. She did awesome in her longest run ever. Finished the morning with a Dutch Bros Milky Way Steamer. Yummy. Type A (231) Cumulus (473)
| 