Warmed up 3 miles after dropping off car and kids at Marions house. Then warmed up 3 miles, stretched, hit the bathroom several times, including commandeering a male restroom about 10 min before the race start. The race mile markers seemed to be off in places, but got 6.2 overall, so seemed to correct. We started about 8 min late, no biggie. At the gun a whole slew of boys took off. I had about 12 boys ahead of me. After a quarter mile we could see that the train arms were down and a train was crossing 1/2 mile ahead. I slow down a bit, hedging between wasting effort and keeping desired pace (6:00 adjusted for grade). About a 1/4 mile to the train I pass a slew of boys, about 3 ahead of me at the one mile mark. First mile is slight downhill. The train finishes when the leaders were just about to hit the train. I was headed for about a 6:03, but get a 5:44 at the mile mark (.94 miles per gps). I hold onto a strong guy and we pass another guy, mile 2 6:01 (probably net flat), mile 3 is slight downhill, I pass strong guy 6:03, mile 4 is slight uphill, wheels falling off 6:28 (I think this mile was long, making up for short mile 1), mile 5 has biggest hill, not attrocious but challenging in mile 5 of a 10k. Left lower quad starts seizing up in either mile 4 or 5, mile 5 split 6:29, mile 6 is a steady slight uphill, I try to push pace, quad doesn't like it. The quad was limiting factor in this mile for sure 6:18. .2 in 1:05, or 5:20 ave pace. 38:11 total time. Not so great for my fitness, but a decent workout, which was all this race was meant to be (plus a way to earn Marion's killer pancakes). Hung out with other bloggers afterward, ate some delicious choc chip pancakes, asked them to fire up the griddle to make me some more. Then we stayed for early lunch (hot dogs roasted in the McClellan's fire pit). A great morning, other than the actual race ;D PM: 4 mile easy run, Ben rode the bike with me. | 