Notes
My blisters had recovered so I decided to try another mile. I started pretty far outside on the waterfall and was hoping to beat most people off the line so I could cut in early. I was able to get off the line hard but Decker and another Central guy got out just as fast. I tried to get around them but think I just wasted some energy as I was stuck in lane 2 for the first turn and then realized we were going faster than I really wanted to be going. Finally got tucked in around 3rd-4th after the next corner and went the through 209 in 31. The next lap continued fast and we hit 62 for the 409. This felt too fast but I was trying to stay in a good spot. Decker was getting a couple meters off the front at this point, and it basically stayed that way through the next 3 laps. We hit the 809 in 2:08 so clearly had slowed but the start of the race had tired me enough that I wasn't ready to start moving. With 3 to go I started trying to move up but the other Central guy matched me and forced me to the outside for another corner. I tucked back in and let him go to the lead. A Simpson kid came by me at this point so I was sitting in 3rd with 2 to go. No one seemed to really throw in any moves on that lap and as we were coming down the homestretch I made a surge to the lead and tried to hammer the rest of the way. I felt like I was digging hard but I didn't really have to give that last bit of speed for the win since no one ever came back up to me. I thought for sure I would be under 4:20 after that fast start and not feeling like we slacked off the second half of the race, so I was really surprised to see 4:21 again as I crossed the line. I was happy to get the win but definitely bummed to not run faster than 2 weeks ago. I still feel like I am capable of faster but this year didn't work out for a PR. I think going a little slower the first couple of laps would have helped for the race. Getting stuck in lane 2 a bit more than usual probably didn't help either. I still feel fit racing and felt like I ran as smart of a race as possible. I might try out a 3k in a couple of weeks and see if I can get a PR there instead. Blisters felt a lot better than after Alumni. A little sore again, but this was more like the typical soreness.