I wanted to do a race in the summer heat to make sure I'd be ok in the event Chicago was hot. Leesburg was a good choice as it wasn't oppressively hot but it was 68, 64 dew point, 88% humidity. Not bad for August, but certainly not good for fast times.
I did not have my garmin and I didn't take any splits but rather I ran by feel. The plan was to go out easy effort wise and start progressing after the half way mark. That way I could be conservative for longer into the race so that I wouldn't blow up. In that sense I was successful. However, I'm a little worried about the relatively slow pace I ended up averaging. I think I literally tricked myself into running slower than I was capable because I was afraid of blowing up, if that makes sense.
The friendly neighborhood Ethiopian was at this race and was gone in half a mile. I was running with two dudes and Bethany, who was really gunning it as I feel like we were going 5:40s. I relaxed and put in about marathon effort through 6 miles and then picked it up. However, I got tired pretty quickly at 8 miles and it got hot when that sun came above the trees. I didn't blast the last 5 miles to 5K as fast as I wanted. It's a good thing I was conservative cause the heat started getting to me as it rose to 72 by then. I was also able to drop the dude that was with me through 5.
All and all not bad since I felt really strong the whole way (except for the final two miles). However, I ran rather slow. I figured I could run under 5:30 pace but it was not to be. This race is never fast but I wanted to see my training go a little further with my fitness by now...anyway looking back at old results, Jerry, Graham, and Kieran have all ran close to what I've ran today at this race and they went on to have pretty fast fall races when the weather was better and they were more in shape.
Still have a lot of work to do but I'm on track (I think). It's nice to win $100 bucks too.
Results
PM: 1 hr. pool run
| 