2nd place 10k but killed by allergies? (Read 143 times)

I ran the CAMBA's 10k this past weekend. Ended up in 2nd place but I was pretty far off my target pace and time and just didn't feel I had that extra gear, right from the start.
 
I was off 30-ish seconds when I hit the first mile so I knew the whole thing was going to fall apart at some point soon. Guy who eventually won was on my heels and passed me at the first climb (just after mile 1) and started losing me more and more with every second that went by.
 
Around M2 or 3 I passed some runners I coach going in the other direction out for a workout, and they called out I was so far in the lead there was no one behind me (they didn't see that 1st place guy was so far in the lead ahead of me lol) so at least knew I was not going to lose second place but I had no pick up or additional drive and felt I was pushing it to maintain what would usually be a strong workout pace, but not a race pace.
 
I ended up running just under 40, but was shooting for sub 37. First place was around 36:40 ish and 3rd was around 43 minutes then the rest filled in close to one another as you'd expect for the rest of the race.
 
So I'm wondering what happened. Was it just that the stars didn't fully align? Was it that I didn't really have a taper? (It wasn't an A race so I didn't bother). I didn't have great sleep, but I never really do (I have two year old toddler twins). I felt well rested after a decent week's running but not way over doing the mileage. Could it be the allergies? I've been massively suffering from them and took Allegra the night before the race. I'm waking up with my eyes gunked closed and going through what feels like a box of tissues a day and this annoying eye itching!!!
 
I'm happy with the second place but I really wanted a PR. I'm just upset my body would not go when my mind kept telling it to.