Notes
First race of the year, tough to complain about starting off with a win. Course was pretty challenging. First mile and a quarter or so were flat/slight downhill. After that the hills and wind began. The hills were a little more than just rollers and definitely took a lot out of you and they were coupled with a nice headwind for the middle part of the race. Another steep hill at the 4.5 mile mark followed by a sharp downhill to the finish.
Went out way too fast. Racing the mile in the preceeding weeks had me primed for a quick start and no doubt this probably hurt me in the later miles. Around the 0.5 mile mark, was at a sub 5:00 pace. Dropped it to a more reasonable 5:14, but this was still at least 6-10 seconds quicker than where I wanted to be during mile one. This was more in line with my 5K pace. Overall the first mile felt smooth and relaxed but I knew I couldnt keep this for the full 5 miles, especially with the upcoming hills that I had been warned about.
Mile 2 was at a steady 5:17 pace still and at this point, I was still going a little too quick for what I had planned. Still felt good. Some initial wind and hills during mile 2, but miles 3-5 is where the challenging part of the course began. As you can see from the splits above, there was a significant change in pace start in mile 3 which was a combination of the course as well as me starting to feel the over-aggressive pace. The last 3 miles were more like survival mode for me to make sure I didnt completely blow up. Wasnt really sure how close 2nd place was to me. During mile 1 I heard someone not too far off my heels but by the first hill during mile 2 the sounds from behind disappated and was quiet. The only look behind was around the 4 mile mark where there was a 90 degree turn and an easy chance to take a quick peek. Comforted to know there was nobody about to strike but at the same time, I'm sure the time during the last 3 miles suffered slightly from not having someone there to race.
Felt good to get the win, I never take those for granted. It was only 7 months earlier that I got my first ever win in a road race, so it's still a rare exception when it happens. I know if Jake or some of the other usual suspects were there I would have easily been humbled once again.
Overall the race was put together nicely. It was pretty much just a combination of Shamrock and SRR runners, not sure if there were any non-affiliated runners there. Course was well marked with volunteers at the turns, police escort to control traffic, plenty of food at the finish (homemade chili, lasagna, and pizza delivery), and cheap beers (they werent free but cant complain about $2.50/3.00 bottles).
December was a busy month for racing between Mill Cities, a few 5K's, 3 mini-meets. After today's race, looking forward to a month off from racing where I'll probably plan to do the Super 5K next.
Let's hope 2013 is at least partially as favorable as 2012 was to me this year. It was really a fun year running / racing. Good start so far.
Big PR for Liz today too, dropping at least 2 minutes.