Second time at the enormous Spokane May 1 race, with some real similarities to a year ago. Rain showed up the night before, we ate dinner at the same restaurant (which actually isn't that good, I think tradition will change) and the skies cleared before we left. I slept on the floor at Donnie's, and got great sleep somehow. Woke up Sunday morning to clear, sunny skies and 40-degree weather. Mike, Henry and I snuck through the Second Seed pit as close to the elites as we could, even eight rows back or so there are hundreds of runners to weave around. Didn't have to stand around much, perfect timing and warmup. There were 50,000 finishers, and that lead group is pretty bunched up so you're in a big pack. The other downside is that I missed the first two mile markers because the pack was so thick. Other than a pace check at mile 3 (I was running sub-6) and at mile 5 (outside shot at sub-43:00) I had no idea of pace. The funny thing is I almost race naked just for the heck of it so I would race and not get hung up on pace; probably wouldn't have hurt me. I felt good through miles 1 and 2, but thought they might have been a little slow in retrospect. At the uphill coming toward 2 I started to work, and I passed my first large portion of runners there and kept the pace honest after that. By mile 4 things had thinned out and I really focused on pushing the pace toward Doomsday Hill. After all the hip and plantar pain the past two weeks I was worried how my legs would feel, but when I was halfway through without any soreness or tightness I had a good feeling. I maybe passed one guy up Doomsday, then crested and saw the clock and knew that two sub-6 miles and a really fast 0.4 would sneak me under 44 minutes, which was the goal. (44:21 a year ago.) I tried to push and lock in a pace with a guy 10 yards up who was running well. I had a momentary loss of focus, just spacing out, and felt like I floated the pace a bit. I straightened my head out quickly and got back to it, caught the guy I was looking for at maybe 6.5. I ran smart toward the last mile marker, picking up everything I could and starting my kick prior to the last right hand turn. The finish is a quarter mile downhill, so it goes quickly. I let my legs go as they could, but the really fast turnover just might not exist anymore. There was one guy dying that I didn't quite catch, would have liked to get him but I needed another 10 yards to do it. But a PR nonetheless, I felt great at the finish and that sub-44 was definitely within reach had I started in a better position. Definitely spent more time manuvering through slower runners than I would have liked to. But that's part of the fun, I suppose. Then we sat around in the sun eating pizza, donuts, apples and drinking coffee. It's a fantastic post-race spread. Then we all went back to Donnie's and had the traditional nacho table, which is the Bloomsday version of a bruger. Good weekend.
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