(Late entry, home internet's been out all week.) Sunny, mild day in Wenatchee, a mid-size city in north central Washington. It calls itself the Apple Capital of the U.S. Start line is in an old style downtown, kind of like Logan, and the course otherwise is completely along a paved waterfront trail. Half does an out-and-back, full does two loops. First few miles are pretty flat, then we crossed a bridge and the other side of the lake is rolling for the middle six miles or so. Then back across the bridge to the finish. Mike and I didn't really have a pace goal, but it was a small field so we started up near the leaders. We let one pack of the good racers go and settled in with the second group. The first mile was pretty quick, under 6, then we settled into a better pace. We hung together until mile 9, he took a slight lead up a hill. I caught him at 10, but took a Gu and kind of lost focus and touch with him (and ran a slower mile). I kept him in view, 10 seconds back or so, planning to put a surge on. But I kept hitting pretty good miles and he kept the pace, and I just didn't quite have the oomph down the stretch to make a good run. Last mile was kind of slow, actually, and I passed a guy right at the last step (they screwed up the results, actually, and completely left me off. So I had to argue my way back onto the list -- and to get a cup for my age group prize). Here's the splits: 5:57, 6:23, 6:34, 6:34, 6:45, 6:59, 6:57, 6:45, 6:38, 6:52, 6:40, 6:28, 7:25 (plus .1). 1:27:03 Not a great race, but for going into the race with no race plan at all or speed work under me, I'll take it. It was actually a really enjoyable day, so I can't be disappointed. There will be other races, and now I have a better idea of pacing. Pretty fun time, and it felt like spring. supernova glide -- 48
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