Notes
Temp 71 Wind 2 mph. Humidity 100% Dew Point 68 degrees.
Off and on drizzle, which is much better than predicted showers. Temp warmed up more than anticipated, and its a "mugger". Start and finish on east side of parking lot will cut out most of extra distance in course; enough so that good tangents will get it pretty close.
Garmin set to alert every 6:20. Line up on 3rd row. Two young guys in basketball shoes in front of me, rest I know or at least look like runners. I line up on outside to the right so that I can hit the first tangent. Have to go around the hoop-boys on the outside to start, so a little off the mark coming out of the parking lot. First quarter mile straight and flat. Settle in at 4th. Joe W., who beat me by 0:26 seconds on 7/4/09, a 20ish guy I don't know, and 11-year old Lil Willie. Move past Lil Willie on climb. Joe W. and other guy slow at top of hill. Remind myself that this is a "race", pace actually feels on the slow side, and I'd planned on grabbing all the downhill free speed I could get today. Go ahead and move into 1st a little before 0.75 in. 1st Garmin alert goes off, we're about 1.00 mile in, but I don't even see the mile marker? Finally see it, and its off (long) significantly. 1st mile split ended up being 6:23, about right for the amount of uphill running.
Start mile two in 1st. This is the tough one. Slow climb, turn, flat, turn, and short but significant climb at about 1.25 miles. I'm trying to maintain even effort. 20ish dude starts surging to pull even, then immediately falls back. Does this twice. I hear him coming both times because he's sucking so much air. Remainder of second mile pretty uneventful. Hard running through hills and turns, focus on even effort and good tangents. No mile marker, but alert tells me I'm just a little bit slower. 2nd mile split came in a 6:34. Again, all things considered, pretty good. Feeling the "race effort" now.
Most significant climb starts at very end of mile two and runs about 0.15 into mile three. About 3/4 of the way up Joe W. is back. He seems to be running smooth and isn't breathing near as hard as the kid. He's got the inside tangent for the next two turns and I'm thinking he going to use them to open up. Doesn't, and we go stride for stride for maybe 0.5 mile. Last hill is about 2.65 miles in. He beats me here. Have to let him go a little with hopes of pulling him back in like I had done after first hill. Notice after another 200-250 meters or so, he's opened up a few seconds. I try to surge, but its not there, close no ground, and I've blown myself up. Now its bear down, HTFU, hang on and DO NOT let anyone else pass me. Pound out the rest of the mile for a 6:25 split. One of my proudest moments. (Last alert had already gone off and I remembered thinking at the time, way too far to go for sub-20, hold on to second, and don't look like a wuz jogging to a finish. Again, no mile marker on course.)
There's no kick left, so finished by focusing on short quick strides with rapid leg turnover. Felt like slow motion. 0:35 finish. 19:57. Another sub-20 effort, this one on a difficult hilly course. Previous best time on a hilly course was 20:36 on 7/4/09. Almost 0:40 better in less than 90 days. Joe W. beat me by 0:26 that day. Today he was 0:12 better. Some second-guessing immediately after race...not aggressive enough? Checked spits, re-ran course in my head, remembered how I felt and when. Nothing, this was as good as I had today. Just got beat by a better runner. 2nd Overall, but sure feels good for a "Sister Kisser". Won AG.