Notes
What a race. I kept it pretty chill in the first loop, but still was going decently fast. I would pull away from the guys a little bit but kept letting them catch up so we could run together. A little after the 2nd aid station they decided to stay back, so I scooted off ahead with a guy I'd been talking to a lot that loop. We stayed together and I thought he was going to smoke me because he seemed like he wasn't using as much energy as me. I got a kick at mile 14 though and passed him, and never saw him again (although he wasn't far behind). My kick lasted from 14-22 or so, and it was pretty strong, around 7:40 pace. I was pretty impressed by it, and I kept picking people off one by one. It was awesome. After 22 I kept pressing but I relaxed it a little bit because I had less people around to catch. I was still catching people all the way until mile 29 though. All in all I'm super proud of my performance in this race. I gave it a solid effort and didn't give up at all in the last 7-8 miles when things started getting tougher mentally. My goal was to run as close to even splits as possible, which I did. Only a minute slower on the second loop. I also ran a quicker time than I expected, but I certainly didn't think it wasn't obtainable. Even though I slowed considerably in the last 4-5 miles, it was mostly just because of the hills. I was running really solid but didn't have my climbing legs. Understandable since I've mostly been doing base training and haven't spent a lot of time working on hills.