Notes
I wanted to do the same thing as last year, hoping that I would be able to hang with the lead pack and then take off in miles 6-7 and then hold on for dear life. I was outclassed today, however. The eventual 1st and 2nd place finishers started to pull away from me after the 2-mile mark (5:47 and 6:01). I stayed at the same distance behind them until the 5-mile mark (5:46, 6:05, 6:06), even though we all slowed down in the hills. Once we hit the halfway mark, Rountree (the winner) took off and never looked back. I was trying to pick off the second place guy, but never could get any closer. As much as I sped up, so did he and I just ran out of space, though I did make up some time. My final 5 mile splits were 5:42, 5:34, 5:55, 5:39, and 5:36. My halves were approximately 29:46 and 28:32. I feel good about how I pushed through the second half although I wish (of course) that I had finished in first, but the winner took the race in 56:xx.
In any case, I didn't do any kind of tapering or anything for this run; last year I did, and I think that the improvement speaks for itself. Watch out MIT!