Long Play 33 1/3 Race Report
This year marked the 10th time I've run this race which started in 2013 when I ran the inaugural race. One year I ran the half marathon instead and two other years I missed (one year due to start of Covid era and another year when I was trying to stick to marathon training plan).
This year was my second slowest time but was actually one of my better feeling races with pretty much no one passing me after 18 miles (except temporarily after which I caught up to them and passed them a few miles later). Weather was good, started out cool and never really got hot.
Heading out from Ridge Manor trailhead, first mile taking it easy with 12:05 then settled into the 11:xx's up until mile 9. Mile 9 had the only water crossing which you could mainly tiptoe around at the expense of some time. This also was a pretty rooty section through cypress grove and all of those bumpy cypress roots that are easy to trip over.
Miles 10-17 were good with paces in 11's and 12's as there was some uphills in this section. Mile 18 was up and over Tucker Hill where there was an aid station. Going down the other side my pace took a while to pick back up. Got passed by a few people. There was a woman who I had leap frogged back and forth for a while and a couple of guys who had been at the aid station same time as me, stayed ahead of me for a while.
This is the section of the course where things often start to fall apart for me and it was feeling like that might happen again. But I think sometime after going up and over the next few hills I found myself starting to speed up again and a soon passed the ones that had gotten ahead of me as well as a few more people who I had not seen before who mustv'e been ahead of me for a while. I was starting to feel pretty good again with a good chance of making it through the race without struggling and enjoyed the time running through the woods and the sections of open fields and then back to the woods.
My pace took a hit for mile 26 with a slower than expected 16:27. Well , what happened was just after the aid station there was a guy running directly toward me who asked if he was going the wrong way. I said yes, most likely and then I briefly doubted myself and maybe I had missed a turn and/or turned myself around. So, I was now running with this guy and he'd stop every now and then to check his phone and we ran into his running buddy. They were already 3 miles ahead of me due to some wrong turns they took.
Mile 28 was last ooops slow mile at 14:49 where I took just a bit too long at the aid station. Due to that slower mile, my average pace for the race so far was 12:29 by the time I left the aid station. I gained some back so by the time I finished, average pace was 12:20.
Then after that it was pretty smooth sailing. Passed a couple more runners and then finished the race with mile 33 at 11:43 and the final 0.35 at 9:35 pace.
Got my medal from Amy and Andy handed me my record (namesake Long Play race you get an actual LP).
Mile splits for the race: 12:05, 11:46, 11:13, 11:16, 11:05, 11:52, 11:16, 11:25, 14:21, 12:15, 12:12, 10:54, 12:43, 11:31, 11:49, 13:17, 12:18, 15:25, 13:41, 12:43, 11:34, 11:43, 12:54, 12:36, 12:46, 16:27, 11:31, 14:49, 11:16, 11:19, 12:15, 11:52, 11:43, 0.35@9:35
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