Notes
Race day just started out hectic right from the start - got a late start to warm up and felt like I was pushing just to get to the start line (no water, pissed in the parking garage and scrambled into line with 4 minutes to spare).
Gun went off and my legs felt like jello right from the beginning. I knew right away this was going to be a battle. Ran next to Greg2 and Egad for the first 3. Felt OK, but was laboring way too much (was pretty hot out there for sure, but that wasn't my issue). Eric fell off after 3 as he was fighting yet another injury and I was chasing Greg as well. My mind started playing tricks as I was laboring just to keep a 7:00 pace - Mile 3-4 were just brutal. The course wasn't hard - why the hell was I struggling - I just didn't respond to the race very well. Kept fighting and holding close to Greg, hoping I would come out of it.
Greg was still about 30 yards in front of me and a decided after the mile 4 marker to make my move and give it what I had left and quit feeling sorry for myself. My legs responded and came out of it. Passed Greg and he gave me an awesome cheer of confidence - it really picked me up. I was holding on after mile 5 and gave it what I had (I will admit to looking back for Greg after the last little bump going to the finish). Would have been really cool to battle greg to the finishline - but it was just me.
Happy that I PR'd and that my legs responded at mile 4 - bodes well for my next race. Great atmosphere and great company after (egad, gwen, jimbo, greg, tom and vangie), although we had to bale out after the race (I was able to enjoy a quick beer with Greg after). I also connected with Holly, Shamrock Dean, my college roommate and Ryan (another peep from Sanford).
On to better races and more speed work (longer intervals are going to help). Learned a VALUABLE lesson here - I need to keep my pre-race routine no matter what - I think the last minute nature of my pre-race really did not set me up for success.
Official results:
42:39 (6:52)
5 out of 173 (56 out of 1698 total)