Good race today...only thing that would have made it better was if I had 10 more seconds in me...but I can say that about every race, right? But today was a nice stepping stone, and now I feel like I have a solid non-downhill PR that I can grow off of. My previous official non-aided PR was 1:08:05, so this is almost two minutes faster. 53rd place in a PR race is pretty humbling...today showed how deep the U.S. is right now, and 40+ guys under 1:05 is something to get excited about. USATF keeps raising the bar, and people keep responding. On to the race details. Today was pretty close to perfect for a late-June race. Upper 40s in temp the whole way, with some mist/fog here and there. Humid enough to drink water just by opening your mouth, but cool enough to offset the humidity. Wind was initially looking like a decent tailwind, but it inexplicably died right before the race. Andrea later said that weather stations were reporting 5mph from the north during the race, so either no effect or slightly favorable crosswind. In short, a good setup for lots of fast times. I wanted to make sure not to get out too hard, so held back at the start. I was 5:01 at mile 1, which was about perfect. I was amazed how far back I was already though, as the leaders took it out way hard. The pack was already a bit strung out, more than I expected. Jake caught up to me after the first mile, and we ran the next mile together. I tried to settle in a grove, but apparently settled too much as mile 2 was 5:07. I tried to pick it back uo to 5-flat, which was my target pace, but seemed to overcompensate, and hit 4:53 for Mile 3. Or maybe there was just a lot of downhill that mile. 15:33 for 5k split. Mile 4 was 5:03, and Mile 5 was also 5:03. Again, I was a little concerned about falling off pace, but then Mile 6 was 4:52. 31:07 for the 10k split. In some ways I was running dead-even, but really my pace was yo-yoing too much. Somewhere in the Mile 4-5 range, I caught up to Bryant Jensen, and it was nice to find a familiar face, especially someone with similar time goals. Bryant and I ended up working off of each other for most of the remainder of the race. This was a good thing, as there were very few packs out there, just a string of runners. Bryant and I picked them off one-by-one, and according to the handy-dandy timing chip stats, from 5k to the finish I passed something like 27 runners, and only got passed by one (who I think was Bryant). So that was a big postive. So halfway through the race, I was exactly on my goal pace for 1:05:30, which was good, but at no point was it feeling easy. Coming into the second half of the race, I was a little worried about falling apart, but working with Bryant was a big help, and all the people coming back was a boost as well. So I just kept it going the best I could. I never did fall apart, but I couldn't get any more 5:00-miles either...stuck somewhere in the middle. Mile 7 was 5:05, not good. Mile 8 was just under 5:07...even worse. But then Mile 9 was 5:02, and Mile 10 was back to 5:05. 50:20 for 10 miles. So I was hanging in there, but sub-1:06 was looking a little grim...but still possible with a strong finish. I knew the race ended with a net downhill for the last 3 miles, so I held on to hope that some good things could happen. And there was some downhill, but also some of the bigger uphills of the race. 5:05 for Mile 11. Bryant, who was running really strong, finally separated from me during Mile 12, and put about 5 seconds on me, and then another 5-6 seconds in me during the last mile. Mile 12 was yet another 5:05, a pace that I discovered I am really good at running. Yet even after all these slower splits, I looked at my watch with 1.1 mile to go and figured out that a 4:55 last mile with a decent kick would still bring me to sub-1:06 (which was worth $500, by the way). I tried to push the last mile the best I could, but my legs didn't have much to offer in terms of pop. I did pass a couple guys, though, including one in the final sprint to the finish, so that was a good way to end. When I turned the final corner, I could see the clock clicking off "1:05:40..." and tried to dig down deep...who know, maybe I had run the last mile faster than my legs felt? But also the finish line clock is always farther than it appears...strange phenomenon. It clicked over 1:06:00 with about 50 meters left, and I saw $500 flit away. Ended up with 1:06:09 gun time, 1:06:08 chip time. Will take the gun time, and it's a nice PR. Last 1.1 mile was 5:38, which is (of course) 5:05 pace. Took 53rd overall, which just amazes me in terms of depth of the race...40+ guys under 1:05, which is Japan-like in half marathon depth. Truly a great championship event, and I was glad to be part of it. Even though I didn't quite get my time goal, my race was fast enough to encourage me to keep going and try for sub-2:18 in the marathon. I still have a lot of work to do, and it may not come this year, but I think it's achievable and worth pursuing. Pics from Andrea's camera below: 
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