Score another one for the old man. I don't think I'm getting any (or much) faster, but I'm getting tougher.
Raw, blustery day on the Bentonville square, with occasional misting rain and more wind than I'd prefer. Took a warmup jog, but didn't stretch as much as I should. Race began, and I soon discovered what I needed to be stretching was the glutes. They just were not loosening up.
My goal was to put down 7:30 miles. Did that -- for one mile. Then 7:42, 7:26 (better), 7:36, 7:47, 7:41. Hit the 10K in 47:22, I think, which was so-so. Glutes still hurt. I decided to forget about the 7:30s and just try to maintain over the second half of the course. Little did I know what that meant.
Mile 7 was 7:36, then 7:30. More like it. I started locking in on people ahead of me to catch and pass, and gradually succeeded. Then 7:35, 7:24. Mile 11 had a HUGE downhill in it; I half expected Lindsey Vonn to go by me in her tuck. Ran that mile in 7:04. At that point, the legs felt dead. I'm just telling myself to maintain. Fortunately, there was a couple of miles of flat to recover. Ran those is 7:48, 7:47. Then we got to a mega-climb. I talked to a woman I know afterward who ran Boston last year. She said this climb makes Heartbreak look like a pimple. Ran mile 13 in 7:56, but man, I was PASSING some people on that hill, including the last of the people I locked on to several miles back. Then we popped out on to Main Street less than a quarter mile from the finish and I hauled some serious butt with what little I had left.
Official time (gun) 1:39:36, (chip) 1:39:30, PR by 59 seconds. Think I might have left a little bit of my race out on that tempo run Tuesday night, but I can't complain about a 59-second PR. And a top-10-percent finish (83rd out of 888) doesn't hurt either.
BTW, for a brand-new race, I thought this one was run pretty well. Traffic control was very good, the expo was nice, they had stuff to keep you entertained in the Square before and after the race. I might have to run it again next year as my last tuneup for The Boston.
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