Notes
GPS had 13.21
On paper, I felt like I would finish around 3rd-5th. I felt George Towett was the favorite, Daniel Kirwa was second and Boniface Biwott and Rwaheru Deus would be tough to beat.
Plan was to hang back, let them kill each other and then move up as high as I could. I ended up setting the lead from the get-go. Towett did a couple of short surges, but the pack let him go and we would reel him in shortly afterward. We dropped Daniel a couple of miles in and I hung behind George and Biwott for a few minutes to let them do some work. We ran up a long, gradual hill and I could tell the pace was slowing, so I took the lead. Daniel caught back up, and George dropped shortly afterward, followed by Daniel.
Biwott then sat right on my butt until a little over nine miles. I was getting mad because we ran down a long road, with a headwind in my face the entire time. Eventually I turned around and asked if he was going to help out and motioned for him to move forward, but then he fell behind after a long hill with 2-3 sections.
After 11 miles, he was way behind, so I was able to cruise it in. Once I saw the finishing clock in the 64:20s, I picked it up a little bit so I could break my PR of 64:39.
Really happy with this race. The course had some rolling hills and the effort was actually pretty relaxed. Much easier effort level than Tom King and I felt like I could have hammered the last the last 3-4 miles and broken 64.