Notes
Quarryman Challenge-3rd place.
Short description: Felt controlled but had to hold back with my hammy.
Long description: after warming up and a couple strides, my hammy really didnt feel too convincing but I figured I'd start slow and relaxed and build through if my body allowed. Did just that. From the start there was a solid group of Tim, nick, the eventual winner (connor mickow), some random Ukrainian dude who got 2nd, and then me. The first mile ends with a huge uphill and I didnt push it at all. Nick ended up surging a little at the top to win the king of the hill award. After that, the road continued to climb a little and the pack seemed to separate into just me, and the two non-brothers. Over the next couple miles of rolling hills, I chatted a little with mickow and found out who he was, etc.. the other dude was completely silent. At some point during the 4th mile, where it was relatively flat, I started to get dropped by those two. I immediately started feeling my hip/hammy tighten but I tried to stay calm since I was still in 3rd. I hit the 4th mile in 5:21 and realized I was still clipping off a solid pace so tried to just stay as smooth as I could and delay the tightening up of my legs. My hammy still didnt feel great but wasnt affecting my stride too much..honestly I hated the flat parts of the course because I seemed to tighten up more on those because I'm not a smooth runner. I actually welcomed any up or downhill because it distracted my mind from the tightness. I clipped off another 521 and then a couple 523s. Right after I hit the 7th mile, I ran by Tim (who I had just found out had dropped out) and my mom. I hate looking back so I asked him how far of a lead I had on 4th and he said 100 meters. The 8th mile had a huge uphill that kinda sucked. The only uphill that seemed to really take it out of me. I tried to relax at the top and get back into rhythm but was starting to feel a little tired. Hit that mile in 5:37 and looked back on a turn to see a dude in a white singlet and red shoes still at least 100meters back...nick was coming. The next mile I focused on keeping good form and maintaining since I figured it would mostly be back downhill to the finish and I wanted to open up the gap more on nick so that he wouldnt have a chance on a downhill mile since I had no intention on going into the well or kicking. They surprisingly threw in a couple unexpected hills but I still clicked off a 5:17. The 2nd place guy was coming back to me but I ultimately decided to not go into the well and maybe risk injuring my hammy to win an additional $50 so I kept it smooth and controlled the whole last mile downhill and then on the straight to the finish. Hit mile 10 at a 5:11 and the course ended up being long by almost
.2miles. Finished feeling pretty good about this effort after racing the 1500 last night and the hammy didnt seem worse for wear after either races. Only problem I walked away with was a ton of blisters on my toes and feet from the friction on the downhill and turns but outside of that pretty happy with my effort and result today