Notes
Age Grade: 86.9%
I would give this race a B+ or A-
Overall, I am not displeased with the way I raced. Just a bit disappointed that I didn't hold on to Waite and Billig. Got out comfortably hard and was surprised to see Anthony, Brian and Pat Billig had gapped me by quite a bit as we crested the hill. I checked my watch and I was at 5:37 -- not going to try to hang onto that. So, I just relaxed into the pace and kept my head up.
The Hamline underpass was a nightmare!!! Slushy snow/ice made it a bit interesting. As we made the left to go under Hamline, people were bitching about a Porche Cayenne that was up on a curb. Didn't bother me, but the Suburban in the middle of the road around the corner was a major problem.
Made the right onto Selby and just kept my heady up. Lost track of Anthony, but could see Brian and Billig. Just tried to stay relaxed and close the gap on them. Dan Strike, Brad Moening and Matt Waite were all running near me and pulled ahead. Strike was rolling, stayed in touch with Matt and ended up pulling away from Brad.
Caught Brian and Pat at the turnaround. Was hoping that Brian and I were going to work together to the finish, but it turns out he was battling a stitch. Billig keep throwing in surges any time I tried to get up with him and after a few tries, I just decided to try to latch onto him from 5 meters back. Was pretty consistent with that until we came back to Hamline. As we made the right under the road, I basically spun out and thought I was going to go down. Scrambled to maintain my footing, but lost touch with Pat. By the time I made the left back onto Selby, he probably had me by 30 meters and I kind of lost my will to push to get back up with him.
So, I would say that I ran well from the start until I spun out going under Hamline. Then, I am disappointed in the way I finished from there. In my defense, Pat is in racing shape right now after doing a fairly solid indoor season and winning Nationals last weekend in the 3k. Not going to let him go at GIG...