Gasparilla 15k Race Report
Weather- hot (80s), humid, no breeze... gross.
Race prep- I felt pretty good coming into this. I'd been sick for the last two weeks, but had been training through it just fine, so I wasn't worried. I figured a sub 51 was in the cards, with a long shot at sub 50. I was content with that.
The race- Geez did I misjudge myself. The first mile was a 5:18 and it felt- too fast. So I dropped the pace a bit. Still felt too fast. I hoped to find my groove, instead I found that I had made a huge mistake. Mile 5 I started blowing up. I wasn't even close, but kept trying to push, while getting passed by 5 runners. One of those runners I had beaten easily in a half just weeks before pretty handily by over a minute, but today he returned the favor and then some.
I was thankfully able to out-sprint a college kid at the end to finish in 9th, thankfully. Other than that, it was a pretty negative day. I'd like to say I at least worked hard, but mentally I don't think I truly did. I need to work on that- let's see if I do.
Splits- 5:18, 5:26, 5:25, 5:31, 5:48, 5:26, 5:47, 6:03, 5:50, Finish- 1:42
1st half- 25:25, 2nd half- 26:41
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