Have you ever run a perfect race? Not perfect as in you did everything just right to minimize your time, but perfect in that when you wake up the next day every system feels perfectly used, every muscle just perfectly sore - not too much, but feeling like you used them all equally and right at that exact point where they will benefit the most. More like a perfect workout. That's what I feel like today. Race wasn't half bad though!
Everybody started out at a moderate jog, so I spent a few seconds winding through the crowd and burst joyfully out front, ready to run my free mile. Taylor's footsteps sounded a little worried as he followed, not sure if I was on to something or just on something. I wanted to beat Riley for the first mile but got passed at about .7 or so by Taylor and Riley. I had to start dropping back to HM pace at the end of the first mile so I wouldn't screw the rest of the race. Strangely enough I was still hanging on to a 200 foot gap at 1.8 when we hit the flat but that soon ended. 5:12 and 5:24. Now the goal was to get under 1:16 so I could beat my times from the previous two years.
Down the canyon I tried to run as fast as I could without feeling any burn, and I mostly succeeded except a few times I just dropped back to relax. Need to work on the focus a little. I also lost 15 seconds when I broke down and tied my shoe at mile 5. I just couldn't take it any more :) Flat mile was 5:53, pretty good! Then I got 5:37, 5:40 and 5:41 (+16 shoe) in the canyon. As it started to flatten I got 5:50, then realizing I was going to make my goal if I just kept it under 6 I relaxed a little and got 5:59, 6:00, 6:13 on the uphill, then 6:01 and 5:58 coming into the finish with 4:30 for the last two blocks. My GPS seems to always read short on these races so I ended up 40 and 20 seconds faster than my previous two years respectively, and tied with my 2013 record if I take out the shoe tying delay. 8th overall, nuked the age group and Masters.
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