Notes
Shamrock 15 is always a tough race.
Not a bad effort today considering I am congested. I did not really have my usual racing focus. I just wanted to go out and run hard. Thinking about Boston....And its a good simulation.
I started off with Rob. We were ticking off 6'10"s down Quick. I felt like it was comfortably hard - I was not working too hard. We were mostly talking which was my gauge.
We hit AP and kept it fairly steady as we turned up Northampton. Rob started to pull ahead. I decided to let him go. I walked a little to the top and then started running again. I felt too heavy.
I picked it back up and held fairly steady around 7's throughout the hills. Mentally, I was a little tired and was running by myself. Also, my cold was making it hard to breath.
Finally saw LT and Pope and it pepped me up. I pressed a bit and made the left on Steels Corners. At that point, I just was focused on not getting caught. I focused on my form and tried to pick it up. I felt like I had some left in the tank...Wish I was not sick.
After the turn-around I focused on getting to the 8 mile mark. Then as I turned on Eakins, I focused on catching the guy in the vegan shirt. It took me about .75 but I finally got him. At that point there was about .3 left in the race. I just tried to keep it steady.
I caught someone else who was massively cramping at the end. Had he not cramped he would have beat me easy but I used his troubles to snatch 12th place OA.
Epic beat me by about 2'. It was a coming out party for him - but one that I knew was coming for months. I was not ready to go with him up the hill - nor could I have hung with him in the hills. And it was not because I was sick.
If I am to stay in the game - I need to drop some LBs.
Here were my mile splits:
1) 6'26"
2) 6'11"
3) 6'14"
4) 6'23"
5) 8'02"
6) 7'06"
7) 7'00"
8) 6'45"
9) 6'37"
+
.3) 1'43" (5'53" pace)