Notes
Very pleased with my effort, but had higher expectations. Not sure if I'm still underestimating the hill factor here, or if I came into the race a little beat up. After looking at the elevation map, I think the course has longer climbs than I'm training on. Big improvement from last year and look foward to improving for the next!
Splits:
Mile 1 (6:42) comfortably quick
Mile 2 (7:11) fairly steep climb, put me close to pace
Mile 3 (6:53) goal pace, but not as comfortable as it should have been; need to back off on this mile some considering .75mi. is climbing
Mile 4 (6:57) nice pace for rolling terrain, felt good here
Mile 5 (6:43) first decent, again felt good at this point
Mile 6 (7:02) still decending, first point people I'd been running with began to pull away, feeling a little uncomfortable again
Mile 7 (7:35) toughest mile on course, again not so comfortable; gel here
Mile 8 (7:04) pace was tough considering it was mostly decending
Mile 9 (7:06) still unable to take advantage of decent
Mile 10 (7:01) feeling better here, but expected to have ran in the 6:40's over the last few miles
Mile 11 (7:40) one short hill early in the mile killed me, could not recover pace on the rest of the decent
Mile 12 (7:49) just trying to hang on here gentle climb not going well
Mile 13 (8:32) out of gas for last big climb near the capital
Finish (48sec) got pace back under 8mins with little left for a short final kick (passed one of the many who had previously passed me while fading)