Rainy/misty, 65 degrees,windy, humid. This will be the first of two half-marathons in two days, so I wanted to come out of it feeling healthy. Given the conditions I'm surprised how fun the run was. I was looking forward to racing again, so I started excited, running out with the lead group. There were 5 leading (and then me). We started out quick, which didn't interest me too much because of the all-brick terrain, but I went with them because of the wind, hoping to draft a bit. Mile 2... Well... Mile 2 escalated quickly. The lead group pushed their pace down to 5:30 or so, which I held with them for a half mile, but decided to leave the lead group and enter no man's land in a haze of light mist and wind. I was confused for a bit, since there seemed to be a coach riding along with the lead group, 4 of which looked to be part of a team, the fifth was the lead runner hanging at their shoulder. From mile 2-5, the coach on the bike seemed to help his runners along over the span of about a 40 second lead in front of me. Eventually 2 runners began to drop back, 1 whom seemingly quit the race at mile 5 right next to me. Down to 4th place, miles 6-9 were hilly, but I kept a steady pace, picking off the next one and closing the lead gap to about 20 seconds. Then the first place guy slowed slightly right around mile 9.5 and shortly after mile 10 the kid who quit at mile 5 suddenly came off a side street into the race and took over first place, pacing the final guy in front of me. Very shortly after that, the lead guy, who I now figured was just in the race to pace miles 5-10 for the true leader, slowed to a stop in front of me and began walking. At around mile 10.60, the gap had closed to 5 seconds for the lead, and the pace had slowed, the rain increased, and the roads were now quite wet. I decided to close the gap completely and got on the shoulders behind the two lead guys, which seemed to bother them a little. But to be honest, I was a little pissed the lead guy was getting free pacing, so I didn't care. I was feeling very good at that point, with a lot saved up from the previous 2 slower miles, and decided to do a quick pass around the outside of a 90 degree turn and laid down a 5:30 pace for about 3/4 of a mile. I looked back and saw the two had drifted significantly back (20+) seconds, and I sort of lost focus. I kept the lead, but the next 2/3 of a mile I slowed a lot (5:55-6:00 pace), just really trying to keep the distance I had created for the lead. Then, midway around mile 12, I finally re-focused, and kept an eye on my watch to finish the mile with a 5:40 pace and then sprinted down the final street. The lead ended at about 50 seconds between myself and second, but seemed overall, the first 10.6 miles made it seem much more dramatic than that. Overall: the pacing team of 5 runners jumping out in front and the coach riding on a bike (back and forth) past me was pretty annoying- especially when the runner re-entered the course. Their team game plan in the beginning could have easily derailed my race had I not known I needed to be smart given my ability, which is not at that level. I really have never truly run with a team of any kind, so I don't know if what happened was normal, but it caused me to go through a lot of confusion and annoyance throughout the race. I wish I had known what they were doing or that they weren't in the race. I liked the competition, and actually am very okay with truly being beat, but it didn't really feel... right. I felt like I raced a team of runners today, as opposed to just the two who actually ran the race from that lead group. Lucky they couldn't hold on in the end I guess. Fortunate to have another PR, since I certainly won't get one tomorrow!
Splits
Mile 1) 5:39.77
2) 5:45.15
3) 5:42.26
4) 5:45.13
5) 5:45.81
6) 5:43.94
7) 5:44.50
8) 5:47.71
9) 5:46.10
10) 5:49.07
11) 5:50.03
12) 5:39.37
13) 5:40.82
Finish) :22 @ sprint
(Quick calculation splits- First 6.55 miles came in at 37:32, last 6.55 came in at 37:29, first ever negative split!)
Gun time: 1:15:01.6, @ 5:44 avg. per mile, (Chip time 1:15:00.4)
-Age Group- - 10k - Chip Gun
Place Name Age Gend Pos Group Rnk Time Rnk Time Time
1 Michael MacDonald 29 M 1 Top Fin 3 35:41.9 1 1:15:01.6 1:15:00.4
2 Jose Diaz Jr. 28 M 2 Top Fin 1 35:06.6 2 1:15:45.9 1:15:45.3
3 Adam Lawrence 19 M 3 Top Fin 2 35:33.8 3 1:17:40.6 1:17:40.0
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