AM: Ran 3 miles easy to loosen up, stretching. short nap PM: Got to the track over an hour early. Good call. Ran just over 5k warm up while watching the mens 5k, fun. My Team Italia men did well. Did some strides with a female teammate, then lined up. This is my first track race in 14 years. The start was funny because it was a waterfall start, being a 10,000m, but the ladies did not bunch up. I was the only one in lane one, my teammate, also American, in lane 2, then the asians bunched up in lanes 3 and outer. Anyway. I wanted 88-89 per lap and to break 37. Thought I had an outside chance of breaking 36:38, my best 10k since college (unaided) but I had no competition in the race. First mile: 88, 87, 88, 88: 5:52 Second mile: 87, 88, 89, 89 5:53 Third mile: 90, 90, 90, 91 6:02 (trend not good) Fourth mile: 91, 91, 92, 92: 6:06 Fifth mile: 92, 92, 92, 92: 6:10 Sixth mile: 92, 91, 91, 79: 5:53 I think I lap my first lady around lap 5 or 6, and lap the final lady (my friend and teammate) with five laps to go. One of the hard things about this race is the need for mental toughness. I have no men to race, I am just ticking the laps off. After 7 laps I am already tired and see there are 18 to go. It was hard, and I felt like quitting, but in the end persevered. I thought I was going to be above 38, so was pleasantly surprised to be under. You can tell from my last split I didn't give it all in the race, and wished I would have pushed harder, but I'm a bit rusty on track racing. It was a good learning experience. I am excited to have my rival Yiu Kit Cheng in my 5k on Saturday. Cooled down just 1200m. They were turning off the lights on the track so that was my hint to pack up. | 