This is a bit of a novel.  Irrelevant side note: I don't like that RnR calls this race "USA." I liked the name of the race they took over, the "National" and would be ok with a place name like "Washington" or "DC" like all of their other races.

Pre-race:

I had some trepidation about this race and how I would do.  I came down with a cold last weekend that really knocked me on my back for a couple of days, and I was still feeling the lingering effects of it on Thursday. I still thought I had a PR in me, but I didn't know by how much.  Going into the race, my A Goal was a 1:36, B Goal 1:38, and C Goal a PR.

I'm glad I wasn't trying to check anything; it looked like a cluster.  The forecast rain held off for the entire race, which meant that the weather was perfect. I stretched out some more and hopped around to stay loose, and then ducked into my corral with about ten minutes before gun time. 

Mile 1-4: 7:28, 7:16, 7:14, 7:18

Mile 5-6: 7:27, 7:22

These two miles are a gentle incline through Rock Creek Park, a deep valley that cuts northwest DC into two.  I run this part of the route all the time as part of my long run route, but it is a pretty part of DC that most visitors don't see.  I slowed down a bit through the park because I knew that the one major hill on the route was right after the Mile 6 marker.  This part is also mostly devoid of spectators, so it is pretty quiet. 

Mile 7 had the hill where we climbed out of the park and back onto the city streets.  I have my watch set to display average lap pace; when I got to the top of the hill it was showing 9:00, which is still a lot faster than I've run it in training.  It also took me longer to recover than I thought it would.  But, as I was gasping up the next rolling hill, I realized that when I run that part of the race route in training I am not running as fast overall and usually have to wait a light cycle to cross a street at the top, allowing me to catch my breath.  I usually am in a tunnel when racing and don't pay much attention to spectators, but the crowd of cheering spectators at the top of the hill was a godsend.  Mile 8 and 9 had some rolling hills, but I'm back on pace. This is also the point where I feel that the cold I had earlier in the week is affecting me; I'm not getting my wind back as quickly as I normally do on the uphills and have a minor twinge of a side stitch. I choke down a Gu at the water stop just past the Mile 7 mark, and it doesn't sit well.  The queasiness lasts for about half a mile, goes away for a bit as the course levels out, and then comes back as we head up another roller. 

There is a water stop just past the Mile 9 mark, and that allows me to get some more water in, and that seems to dissolve the Gu lump sitting in my stomach -- or at least that is what it feels like.  The impending stitch also goes away about this time, too.  This is also a rolling downhill (the uphills are just where the street dips below grade to allow surface streets to pass over it), and begins the mental home stretch -- by this time the hard part is over.  My race plan was to pick up the pace once I hit the downhill, but it really is all I can do to stay around 7:20s.  As we turn east just past the Mile 10 mark, we turn into a headwind.  It isn't much, but at this point I'm running out of gas, and I start to fade a bit.  After I hit the 12 mile mark, I dig in to finish strong, and manage to pull out my fastest mile of the race.

Chip time ended up being 1:37:33, a 2:26 PR.  7:27 average pace.  I feel I ran close to the edge of my fitness, but feel that I would have had a bit more were it not for the cold and diminished recovery on the uphills.  But despite that, I think I executed my race plan well; I was hoping to have more in the tank for the last four to five miles to reduce my overall average pace, but just didn't have it today.

ETA: They posted official results while I was writing this.  759/19945 overall; 136/1495 in my AG.

Congrats on the race and PR, Flinders, especially considering the tough course and your cold. My frienassailed the bag check was a cluster, so good call there!

Awesome race Flinders! I attribute 100% of your fitness improvement to the new Garmin!

Awesome race Flinders...you absolutely killed it!!

What a great race. Super speedy!  And 7:04 for the last mile! Wow.  Congrats!

Congrats! You killed it!