Could this be my best race ever? I don't know - I've had so many this year. And Nebo will be incredible. Walter you better go down there because I am going to smoke your course record.
Anyway, I started off in the traditional fashion, well in front of the race, but it was taking longer than usual for the leaders to catch up. In fact the first guys didn't get me until about .75 in, and most passed around the one mile mark. This year it wasn't onesies and twosies like usual, but a whole pack of intimidating racers screaming down the mountain looking for all the world like the usual pack at the olympic mile race. I knew then it would be a strong year, and I was just hoping that a masters guy did not sneak in there. The first milepost flew by at 4:52 and my watch dinged at 4:58 - a new record! I was feeling a tiny bit overextended by that point so I brought it back to half pace plus and hoped for the best.
The beautifulday made the miles pass quickly, splits on the other upper miles were 5:26, 5:32, 5:31, 5:38, 5:38 so it looked like I had found a good pace that I could maintain. I hit the dreaded flats by the golf course and still managed to squeeze under 6 at 5:56! By now nobody was passing me and I was passing nobody - it was just a race with my endurance which seemed to be holding out well. 5:35 on the golf course downhill, then into the more flat stuff with 5:58, 5:51, 5:56, and 5:58. By this point I could not argue with my eyes - Trevor wascoming back to me! I passed him in mile 12 and ran a 5:55 to the end of the race. 10th overall, another masters win, and a huge PR! What an awesome day. I think doing all the construction has really helped my endurance a lot.
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