Notes
Age Grade: 88.3%
I would give this a B+
I am happy with the first 5k, but then things kind of went downhill a bit.
At the start, just tried to find some space and stay relaxed. As I did this, I saw Pat Billig and Rob Class in front of me. Surprised about Rob. As we went along, I closed the gap on Pat a little bit. Thought about sitting there, but then I was right there. As I was trying to pull even with him, I got cutoff by another runner. so, I backed of a bit for a little ways. Then we came to a tangent that I had the inside on and I took advantage of it to throw a fairly solid surge. I put a quick 5 meters or so on him. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I could still hear him back there. Oh well, just keep on the gas and avoid the redline. As we were heading across the Lake Street bridge, another runner made a solid move on me -- JVD!!! I had totally forgotten about him. :( He was running really well. So, just tried to latch onto him and go. He hit 5k just ahead of me and we started up the St Thomas hill. I would close the gap a little bit, but then he would gain a little ground on me.
Kept in touch around the corner and we headed down the hill. Kelly Boller caught me around the monument at the end of Summit. I think I must have been a good target for her from about the mile mark.
JVD still up there -- probably 40 meters at this point. Unfortunately, he seemed to be pulling away a bit and I was getting the beginning of a stitch. Tried to ignore it and put some surges on to close the gap, but had no success. SO, just ran with whatever I had left to the finish. Got passed by 2 guys heading across the Ford bridge. Kept churning to the finish.
Overall, happy with the way I raced Billig today. Gave him a different look by pushing him when I did. Not sure if that is what caused his off day? Looking at pictures, looks like I served as a target for JVD the whole time until he passed me on the bridge...