Notes
COMMENTS: A very good race -- I think that half of the cross country teams from the west metro turned out for this. Any thoughts of placing higher than the top 25 (maybe that is even optimistic) were quickly thrown out the door. Oh well, run the race.
Did a little over 3 miles as a warm-up and quickly realized that we would be battling some wind. I also noticed that there are a lot of rolling hills on the course that mainly seem to roll UP -- why is that always the case???
Lined up about 5 yards back from the starting line because I didn't want to get trampled by the youngsters.
At the gun, I just tried to find some space and settle in. Seemed to be feeling pretty good and passing people.
1st mile comes in 6:02 -- about 3 seconds ahead of pace, but I feel good!
Still passing people and running comfortably hard.
2nd mile comes in 6:01 -- OK, keep your stride and breathing as light as possible and keep passing people!!!
3rd mile comes in 6:12 -- gave some time back here because this is where the hills really start rolling. Still passing people though...
4th mile comes in 5:41??? I think I had a garmin error during this mile (even though I was on auto lap) -- THERE IS NO WAY I DROPPED A 5:41. I wasn't pushing that hard...
5th mile comes in 6:31??? Huh??? Stupid Garmin -- I should have left it at home!!! Still running comfortably and passing people. Except for the two teenagers that passed me just before the mile marker while having a conversation.
6th mile comes in 5:59 -- really starting to push now. Pain is my friend -- yeah right!!!
Cover the last .214 in 2:05 for a finishing time of 38:31 (according to Garmin which measured the course as being a bit long -- whatever!).
So, bottom line -- this is a LIFETIME 10k PR for me by 1:28 (previous PR was when I was 18). Happy with that. Although, my goal was to go sub 38. Maybe on a flat course with a little less wind...