I'm not going to make this race entry -- because I don't want to draw attention to this disappointing outing.
I think my big mistake was not preparing the night before for a race. Beth served tacos (I usually eat pasta pre-race) and I ate lots.
Got to the 8:00AM race at about 6:45 and picked up my FREE bib, then went back to my my, put the seat back, and enjoyed the heater. It was about 33F.
Saw Darin, Dave, and Dariin's son Zachary before the start. We all talked about pace -- thinking this was going to be a long training run, we were all thinking 7:20-7:30 pace.
When the gun went off, I quickly found myself cruising at about 7:00/mi -- so much for the plan. It felt good for about the first 5 miles, then I started the negative thinking -- wondering when I would walk first. 13.1 miles is a long ways. The weather was perfect, 35F, no wind and the course was flat. I was thinking it was a good day for a PR when I first started. But, at around 5 miles, I could tell it wasn't in the cards.
Dave passed me at about mile 8 -- I just wished him luck. Darin came up to me with a couple miles to go -- I did my best to stick with him. He ended up finsihing about 15 seconds before me.
All-in-all, though I was disappointed, I enjoyed the training run. I need to fight the negative thoughts and prepare better for the next race. (Jan 8th 15K)
Enyoing 2 weeks of Christmas vacation! | 