I thought this race looked like fun, and it was certainly that (and quite scenic). It looked like it might rain all week, and I had to hide in Cafe Rio the night before during a fairly impressive thunderstorm, but the only precipitation we had was a little soft hail and rain at the start. I was hoping for something in the 1:13s but the course was a lot more rolly than Hobble Creek and had some gradual uphill in the last 5 K so it was not to be. The race started 15 minutes early, and we almost started before the last bus got up (what a hoot) but everybody made it OK. I was not in first for about three steps, but then I got up to speed and tried for the standard 5:10 mile. It was a little uphill at the start and in the middle of the mile so I ended up with a 5:23. By the end of the first mile I couldn't hear the people any more, but I just knew somebody would pass me so I kept up the pressure, dropping to 5:32 and then into the 5:40s for most of the rest of the downhill. By mile 4 I couldn't see anybody in back of me on the long straight stretches so I figured I might be able to pull it off since most of the people that pass me do it by mile 4. I kept putting seconds in the bank and dropped to 1:15 flat by mile 10. When I passed the sprintasaurus marker at mile 6 (a little 800 race inside the half on the steepest downhill) I tried to really jam it, and I got about a 5:12 AP. The second box did not make any noise though so I think that part of the race may have been broken, plus the boxes were actually about .7 apart. Mile 7 ended up being the third fastest of the race at 5:32. Miles 11 12 and 13 were mostly flat and I got 6:05, 6:14 and 6:01 on those, so I ended up with a 75 instead of a 74. Fun race though! Chris Pope came in second and broke his PR by 50 seconds, but I get to have the coveted CR next to my name for the first time!
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