Weather - 72 degrees, cloudy, rain. Fun race today, rode to Fisher with Yong and Ben, when we arrived at the race site a nasty storm was blowing through - lightning, high winds, heavy rain. I warmed up on the town streets, hoping the lightning would pass quickly. The race was delayed 30 minutes, and by the time we were off the line the sun was out. Yong and I planned to do the same strategy as last week, so he followed me the first 1200m, then started to increase his pace. I hit the first mile in 6:22, which was a few seconds slower than I wanted (last week I hit the first mile in 6:10). Yong was moving pretty good, and Ben was about 20m ahead of Yong. During mile 2 I trailed Yong by about 30m, and Yong followed Ben by about the same distance. At mile 3 Ben picked up the pace and Yong and I tried to cover it. I was feeling pretty good, legs were slightly fatigued from the hard training sessions this past week, but my energy was good enough to let me make a move. I passed 3 or 4 runners trying to get to Yong. With 800m to go we were moving close to 6:00 pace and trying to go faster. I was in control and the final 400m I was able to have a nice sprint, coming into the chute in 19:19. Yong closed in 19:14, and Ben in 19:00.
Considering I did not taper for this race, I feel my time and effort was appropriate. Next week is the Mattoon 10k. I am looking forward to it because it will be my first 10k in racing shape. I am hoping to run it in 41:xx. #239 z.m. - #152
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