Notes
Pure Booty. My "A" goal was sub 69, with my "B" goal being sub 70, and I've hit my "A" goal in nearly every race over the last year, with only one "B" race. This race was easily a D. I was really confident in my fitness before this race and was telling Mary how this is the first race I'm about to run where I know I'm very strong.
I got out quicker than I wanted and was right behind Jay Stephenson. At about 1/4 mile, I realized the pace was way too fast, so I slowed way down until some other guys caught me. I hit the first mile in 4:58, in 4th place, a couple ticks behind the top three. I tried to relax even more and was now about 5-10s behind the top three and hit the second mile in 10:07 (5:09). On the third mile, i passed Nate because he had to tie his shoe, and my split was 15:17 (5:10), 4th mile was 20:34 (5:17) and this is when I noticed that I was hurting more than I should have at this point. 5th mile was 25:51 (5:17) and I think Nate passed me back on this mile. I ran right behind him for a bit and he scooted over, which I took him saying he didn't want to break the wind for me, and since I'm no punk, I just ran beside him. He gapped me again, and I split 31:11 (5:20) for the 6th mile, and passed him before the turnaround. I thought I had at least 4th locked up and it appeared I had 30s plus on Stewart, who ended up spanking me. 7th mile split was 36:33 (5:22) and this is when the pain really started creeping in. I was not happy the next mile marker said "8" instead of "10" because I knew I was about to be running on fumes. My split there was 41:59 (5:26) and I believe Nate passed me somewhere in the next mile. 9th mile was 47:33 (5:34). I was passed by Stewart on the 10th mile and split 53:06 (5:33). My initial plan was to move at 10 but my legs were just done for. For some reason, my watch didn't save the last few splits, but they started creeping towards mid 5:50s, with my last 5k being 18:15. With a mile to go, I tried to push again and after a minute, I was just drained and had to back off.
After the race, Nate and I were talking about how we were trying to take turns with the pace and push each other, but I realized all that was doing was digging the nail in the coffin even faster than I should have. The wind on the way back was pretty insane and I think it was worth about 1:00.
It sounds kind of crappy, but I hope I wake up sick or something tomorrow, so I have some justification for this crappy performance. I feel like I am a ton stronger than I was in the fall but a slight worry before this race was my lack of long tempo runs and half-marathon specific workouts. I've got in my mileage and long runs, with some good sessions at 5k-10k pace, but specific-endurance and race pace stuff is the best prep for the distance you're racing.
At least this bad race will force me to clean up my diet and sleep more. When things are going well, you easily become blind to the things you need to work on.