Well not a gold medal race today. But then again it was not a gold medal course (lots of hills) and not gold medal weather (rain, wind, similar to SGM 2008). Overall I'm happy with my race, although I wish I could have snuck under 1:32:30 to claim my silver goal instead of the bronze. But I suppose that is one drawback to not wearing a watch. Yes I decided to run this race "naked" and see how things went. Kind of weird and makes you kind of feel naked to not have Mr Garmin hanging on your wrist. But I kind of liked it for the most part, felt more in tune with my body signals. But I wonder if I had known how close I was to 1:32:30 I could have shaved the few seconds. Ran with Walter and the 1:30 pace group for about 4-5 miles until the worst of the hills began. Also much of the head wind in the middle miles. I'm a lousy uphill runner and I was feeling the hills/wind sap my strength so I decided to back off, keep the pacers in my sights, then see how I felt when the downhill came. Problem was that many of the uphills seemed long and drawn out but the downhills all seemed to come short and too steep to take advantage of. So at any rate I watched the 1:30 pacers get too far ahead to catch and was kind of stuck in no-mans-land the last 4-5 miles and just had to gut it out mostly alone. I did pass a few guys but also got passed by a few (mostly gals). Does make you wonder how things would have gone if the weather was like Friday when it was absolutely beautiful & sunny. Oh well.... early in the year looking forward to some spring/summer races and getting a few sub 1:30's. Kim had a blast pacing the 2:10 group. They had a pretty good sized group make it through to the end and many came up to Kim afterward expressing heartfelt thanks and gratitude. I'm looking forward to doing the pace thing myself in a few races this year.
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