It was a good overall day for a race and another opportunity to test my training and current level of fitness. The course is definitely not conducive to a pr for me with all the rollers creating a challenge to maintain an even effort. I did hope to better my time for the course from a few years ago however, and managed to do so by around 4 minutes.
I started out towards the front, as I didn't want to get caught in traffic for the first few miles. I wasn't sure if I really belonged there, as the race seems to bring out many elites, and I felt a little out of place. The answer came as we began, and it seemed that I was on que with those around me. Within a couple miles, there was a pleasant spacial gap around myself and other runners. This was basically the case for the remainder of the race, other than a little leapfrogging here and there.
My pacing felt quite labored throughout the race, yet maintainable, other than a bout of side stitches between miles 7 & 8. I enjoyed the finish as another runner came upon me in a sprint about 100 yds from the line. I wasn't going down without a fight, so we went head-to-head and finished in a tie on the clock. He ultimately had me with 2 seconds of chip time. My Garmin splits were:
1. 6:17
2. 6:31
3. 6:27
4. 6:25
5. 6:31
6. 6:34
7. 6:37
8. 6:45
9. 6:28
10. 6:39
11. 6:27
12. 6:35
13. 6:26
.19. 6:15
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