It was a perfect day for a race. 38F, sunny, slight breeze.
Had no idea how I was going to do. I have been ramping up the miles this week, and even ran this course twice on Tuesday to become familiar with the terrain.
Someone said "Go", we started running, and about 10 seconds later the gun went off :). I got into a good rythm early on, and felt pretty good. The plan was to go out at 7:30 first mile, then try to speed up -- and like 100% of all my other races, I DID NOT stick to the plan. I hit the first mile at 6:55, and felt fine. A few of my buddies were running with me, too. I was with Dave and Scott for the first 3 miles, then let them go ahead of me (It is much better to be passed by your friends early in a race, rather than late in the race). I kept about 50 yds behind Dave and Scott for the next few miles. Dave started pulling away, and I was kind of resigned to finishing right with Scott. But with 1 mile to go, I started gaining on Scott (this was an uphill section). Before I knew it I was passing Scott.
I finished strong -- passing Scott and 1 other runner in the last mile. Though Scott is in a younger AG, the other runner I passed was in mine -- which allowed me to take home 3rd in the 45-49 AG!!! Woohoo! Dave finished 1st in our AG about 40 seconds ahead of me.
My final time of 1:05:23 is a PR for 15K!! (My Garmin had 9.4 miles, AP: 6:57)
It was a fun race, and it was fun to see a few of my running buddies take home some hardware. 38F, 5MPH N 6:55,6:50,7:04,6:53,6:55,6:59,7:10,6:59,7:00,
| 