I signed up Andy and myself for both the 5k and the 10k. 5k started at 11:25 pm. My brother Jim is in town and he also signed up for both races as well as Jamie (thought she might be doing just one race but decided on both). It's only $10 more to do both races than it is to do just one.
Race takes place near the start of the causeway out to Honeymoon Island state park. It's always expected to be pretty warm but this year (compared to last time I did it in 2010) was warmer and more humid with temperature at 81 degrees (2010 temperature was 75 degrees).
Andy had debated over which race to race and which one to run for fun and decided on the 5k. Thought sounded like a good idea and said I'd run with him and maybe he could get a PR over his time at the RAP River Run 5k (20:30) a few weeks ago. At that race he ran by himself and had splits of 6:05, 6:5x, and 6:5x so I thought maybe a little bit slower first mile could smooth things out. We warmed up with a little over a mile before the race started including 3 x 25 second strides. Felt drenched after the warm up and felt extra warm while packed into the crowd at the starting area. We were hoping for a nice offshore breeze once we got out onto the causeway.
Got off to a good start and settled in about a 6:15 pace for most of the first mile but lost some speed going up and over the drawbridge (not too tall, maybe 15-20 feet up) and ended first mile at 6:26, a little slower than hoped but a good start and on track to break 20:00. Next mile, which included the turnaround brought some more slowing and finished at 6:52. I was feeling pretty wiped at that point and was about to tell Andy that this wasn't my day and he should go ahead. As I was thinking about saying it he told me he was battling a side stitch so I kept quiet and just kept running. Pace was not looking good - about 7:45 at the start of the third mile. Gradually the side stitch started to release and we slowly picked up the pace until just back under 7:00.
With about 0.2 mile to go I told Andy to kick it in and go, which he did and was able to pull away from me. I watched him head toward the finish chute and realized he'd make it in under 21:00 and then I realized that I still had a chance, so I gave it my all, was close but just missed being under 21:00. Andy got 20:57 - about 25 seconds slower than his PR but not that far off. And, he was able to pull away from me when I was giving it all I had left.
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