Showed up to the race, saw the Moodys and Carl so I knew it would be a tough race but if I could just get within a minute of Steve Sumsion it would be a good day. Lots of SRC jerseys! Everything went according to plan, but I never got the afterburners lit after the big hill. The lead group provided a perfect wind shield on the uphill leg and seemed to run at just the right speed, almost too fast to keep up with. But they finished the first mile in 5:35 instead of 5:31 like last year - must have been more wind. I got to the bottom of the hill still in the orange and passed the fence at 8:10 pace, 1 minute faster than last year. When I got to the top I was pretty nuked but still within 100 meters of the group and able to accelerate within 20 seconds. But I never got the mojo I have been feeling the last few weeks - I was stuck in the 5:40 to 5:55 level and unable to clear the lactic.They pulled away slowly and I was passed by 1 additional person.
Wait a minute. I just looked more carefully at the track and I spent a lot of time in the 5:30s on the way down. It wasn't the 5:19 I was hoping for, but it looks like this race got blown away by the wind up the first leg. The lead group dropped to 6 flat for about a half mile whereas last year they were at 5:45 at that point. In fact my splits were 5:34, 6:10 with the big hill, and 5:36. I am really annoyed that I didn't get 17 flat, but pretty stoked about my recovery on the second half of the race. Also the GPS was reading a bit slow and short today so those splits are actually a bit faster. I got within 1:17 of SS (2 seconds closer) and I beat last years time by 3 seconds. Bleah. I should have done much better. Maybe I should not have run to the race.
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