Notes
Felt great until somewhere around mile 4, when my left hamstring started to become painful. I think this was just after Lance passed me. I felt very good at the start, easily settling into a 6:38 lap pace for the first mile as I regularly checked my Garmin. I got up to John Webber and Peter Heslam, and I was confident that I could keep up. I passed John at about mile 1. He then sped up and passed me not long after that, as I was drafting behind Peter.
Then I started overheating and began shedding my heavy gloves and face mask. This was distracting, and before I knew it, Lance passed me. I was content to draft behind Lance until the last mile if necessary, but my left hamstring would not allow it. It developed just like the pain in my right hamstring a year ago at the Mid-Winter Classic. I slowed down to see if it would subside, as difficult as this was, watching Lance widen the gap. He was still within reach, however, and for a few minutes I thought my hamstring might let up, but by mile 5.4 the pain was getting worse even at a 7:30 pace, so I knew I was done.
After a little light stretching and watching others go by, I jogged back to the Ashworth, as I could do so without aggravating it so long as I did not speed up much past a 9-min. pace.
I am actually pleased that I was smart enough to bail out before injuring it further. I feel like I will be back to normal within a week, unlike last year when I was lucky to be ready for Boston. Now I just have to get a half in before Boston to convince myself that I could have hung with Lance, if not Peter.