Did a small local race this morning, the "Bacon Strip" 10-miler. The Bacon Strip is a well-known training route on the dirt county roads east of town. It is rolling hills the whole way, which gives the dirt roads somewhat the appearance of bacon. The first half is harder than the second half, as there is about 200ft of net climb over the first 4.5 miles, but then runners are treated to a net drop over the last half (although the whole thing is rolling up and down). On top of that, today there was a prevailing headwind for the first half, and tailwind for the last 5 miles. It was pretty cold today, in the mid-30s, but not bad for race performance. Pretty good for racing, actually. I didn't expect anyone to run with me during this race, and that's how it panned out, as I led from start to finish. I felt really good the whole way, even on the uphills, probably one of my best overall races of the year. I wore long sleeves, which covered my garmin, and I managed to go the whole race without checking my watch or looking at any splits. That was the way to go, and I just ran by feel, and had a pretty fun tume doing it. Plus, finishing and looking at my splits afterward was a little bit like Christmas (hopefully no lumps of coal though). I especially felt like I was moving really good on the second half, which was WAY easier than the first half due to the wind and net downhill. My final time was 54:25, so just under 5:30/mile. This exceed my expectations, given the difficult reputation of the course. My mile splits ended up being 5:51, 6:01, 5:42, 5:47, 5:42, 5:15, 5:14, 5:10, 5:10, 4:48. The longest downhill was on the last mile, so that was a fast one. The whole thing felt great though. Enjoyed bacon and coffee at the finish line. This was a great "old school" race. No timing chips, just bib tags on a board, very grass-roots, and fun, friendly local event.
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