Notes
This was an interesting first go at a longer race. I went out pretty conservatively (I thought), 5:25 at the mile feeling absolutely fine. Around mile 3, I started to push for a pack of ~7 WV/RCR runners, about 10 seconds up on me, which turned out to be a mistake. I kept hitting around 5:25 until the turnaround at 6.5 miles, at which point things started to hurt. The main pain came through my left ankle/lower shin, which really suffered from the impact with the concrete road, although my stomach wasn't doing great either. I kept up 5:30 pace, catching a few stragglers from the packs ahead, until around mile 10, at which point things really fell apart, and I struggled to keep up 5:35s to the finish.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the time, but I wish I hadn't started pushing at mile 3. Little bit too early for stuff like that. Also, I need to run more mileage before actually trying to compete over distances like this.
The Humboldt Redwood state/national park area has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. The enormous trees shaded the course for all but 100m or so, making for an ideal racing environment as well. We didn't see any of the really giant trees, but nothing makes you feel small like a 95m tall redwood. I'll have to come back here sometime to actually appreciate the natural splendor, not just dash through it.
Splits:
5:25
10:56 (5:31)
16:22 (5:26)
?
27:10 (10:49)
32:25 (5:14, short)
38:08 (5:44, long)
43:23 (5:15, short)
48:49 (5:26)
54:27 (5:37)
1:00:01 (5:34)
1:05:23 (5:22)
1:11:00 (5:37
1:11:35