Notes
Perfect weather conditions. 45 degrees, overcast and no wind. Moderately difficult course with 3 hills. I got to the race in plenty of time, but I misjudged the clock because when I got back the my car after my warmup, it was 7:55 and the race starts at 8:00. I quickly changed into my Tangents and got to the start time. I only had time to do one short stride and this affected me early in the race. I struggled the first half mile to get going, hit the first mile at 5:59, 15 seconds slower than my last race. I was finally able to get it going and started passing runners in the second mile. Coming off the last hill with a half mile to go I was 8 seconds behind the runner I was chasing. I started to go after this him pushing hard and with just .3 left my right hamstring blew out. I had to slow down for about 30 seconds to what felt like 7:00 pace. The last minute I was able to get close to 6:00 pace and barely made it to the finish.
So even though I ran well considering what happened, this is a bummer as I hope the leg is going to be fine. The hamstring cost me 4-5 seconds. If I hurt it earlier I would have dropped, but with the finish clock in site, I gutted it out.
The course was short. I had it at 3:02 while Barry had 3:06.