Notes
I didn't get as much of a warmup as I would like and no strides because I had to make a pit stop just before the race. But it didn't matter as it was hotter (70 degrees) than expected and very humid (90%).
12th place overall. 7:07 pace.
Right from the start, the heat and especially the humidity affected my breathing. Legs also felt heavy. I went through the first mile in 6:52, which was 26 seconds slower than last year. My fastest mile today was 6:45 on the downhill. My slowest mile last year was 6;47 and that was on the 2nd mile that is uphill.
So it's no surprise that was 4 minutes slower this year. Even seeing Eleni with a half mile didn't give me the emotional boost it normally does. I was physically cooked, mentally fried and I just wanted to get it over with.
It was a tough day to run and many runners ran slower, so I am not going to beat myself up over this.
I realize that I need to do some faster sustained running such as Park Runs, Handicap 5K's and hard longer intervals. My 2 races so far this year were not run close to my race pace.I need some race type efforts to get used to faster running. I am definitely not in last year's shape yet. but no way am 4 minutes slower for an 11K.