Notes
Garmin time 54:34 - I my knew "starting fresh" philosophy I am trying to forget that this is a full 5 minutes slower than I ran the same course last year on ice. But it's at least faster than the first time I ran it
Miles 1 & 2 werent bad, I settled in to what i thought was about HM effort because I know that my lungs arent as much of a problem as my hamstrings. going about 8:20 pace. Had to keep reminding myself that it wasnt supposed to feel like a training run. Not racing since July puts one out of practice.
Right after the 2 mile mark my RIGHT hamstring popped shooting pain but having run monkey with that I knew that it wasnt likely to get worse just by running and would likely ease up a bit, did slow about 20 seconds per mile. Right after the 3rd mile mark my LEFT hamstring cramped. Slowed another 20 seconds. Hit the first big hill and the left one eased up a bit.
Right at 3.7 I saw my running partner's sister Nancy ahead of me and decided I was going to beat her. I stayed about 0.1-0.2 miles behind her through the rolling section but kept closing on the ups and losing on the downs so knew that I could catch her on the big ass hill at the end. The slower pace due to my hamstrings was allowing my lungs to be pretty relaxed - my cardiovascular system thought I was running a marathon, my legs thought I was stupid. But uphills dont hurt my hamstring issue as much so I was able to make them agree on the last section
The big climb starts at about mile 5.6-5.7 and I fairly quickly caught 3 people and then passed Nancy at the 6 mile mark just shy of the crest. I was wheezing like a freight train for the last 2 tenths but still had enough to kick when I heard footsteps trying to out kick me to the finish.
OVerall....meh. It is what it is. I was somewhat hoping for <54 but had vowed to be happy no matter what. Relieved that at least it was <9mm. A bit frustrated that even at that pace the hamstring issue returned as it has not hurt even one step since mile 11 of monkey.