Notes
Hot and humid day. Already wet before the gun even went off. I wanted to go out conservatively so I put myself with a couple of Central Mass guys I knew raced more my style. Went out with them and settled quickly into the second lead pack. Felt really comfortable and just slowly moved up through the first mile. Jake went out a little faster but wasn't too far ahead; I kept him in my sights as I went through the first mile. First mile came through in a very comfortable feeling 4:50. Probably a little downhill. After that I decided it was time to up the effort and push hard through the second mile. Passed Jake after a bit and then tried to make my way up to the lead pack. It took a long time to catch it and by then it was only a couple guys that had broken off a little bit. 2nd mile came through in 10 flat so 5:10 pace and slower than the first mile. But effortwise it felt like I had definitely picked it up. Third mile I was fighting basically the whole time with the guys I had caught and struggling through what felt like an infinitely long curving road back to the hill to the finish. Finally got to the hill which I struggled up. Top of the hill was the 3 mile mark which I passed in 15:15ish so about a 5:15 3rd mile. So slower but didn't die too much. Pushed through for the final kick and ended up with a pretty darn good time for the day. Pretty happy with the time, even with dying at the end I think putting the effort in during the second mile paid off bigtime and also helped to continue the push through the rest of the race. Going to try doing some workouts to work on my finishing speed, perhaps some progressively faster miles or 1Ks. Feeling good right now.