Notes
Wartburg's Dan Huston Invite. I felt like doing a couple more cross country races after All American going well. I was hoping for a little better weather for a fast time but instead was greeted with intense wind on an open course. Due to the race being free a lot of unattached runners and the ISU running club were at the meet which meant I didn't get a spot in the front row of the race. I also didn't get out very well from the spot I was in. It's been a while since I had to navigate the masses that much. By the time we turned into the wind I had gotten to the side of the pack and was probably in 15-20th place. But then the entire pack slowed as no one wanted to lead. In college I would have just settled in but for some reason I just did not want to start jogging 600m into the race and with just a couple more normal strides I was at the front of the main pack (2 other guys had already broken away) without really trying. So I decided to just lead at an average pace and try not to waste too much energy. We went through the mile in 5:12 and I slid behind a pack of about 10 as we got the wind at our back again. I almost slid off this pack before the long section going into the wind but I fought to stay with them and when we got into the wind I was able to settle in as they slowed a little again. I stayed with them through the 2 mile (10:35ish) and then I started to lose ground as everyone accelerated with the wind at our backs. More guys passed me here and I was starting to lose some confidence as we approached the turn back into the wind and I was kind of on my own. I gave a little push to get behind two Auggie runners and then all of the sudden we had brought back the main pack, that was ~30-40m ahead at the turn, as they slowed again. This got me excited again as I was able to catch my breath at the 3 mile (15:50) with the slower pace but once they turned out of the wind they were off again and I still struggled to stay with them. The main pack had 10-15 guys and a group of 3 were in between me and them. I basically had to run into the wind on my own the entire far stretch this time but I fought hard and actually brought back both groups a little. As I was fighting through the wind I knew I would have to keep up the hard effort with the wind at my back for most of the last mile since I had been losing ground on those sections most of the race. I crossed the 4 mile in 21:18 and then started to chase hard. At this point Wartburg had 5 guys in front of me and I really didn't want the race to end that way. I slowly closed in on the group of 3 that entire section and could see the main pack was starting to string back toward us. I got onto the group of 3 right as we turned into the wind for the ~400-600m finish. I considered drafting for a second but I came up on them fast and didn't want to slow down my momentum. I also remembered this same stretch from conference senior year and tried to sit for a while but it wasn't worth it because I was closing faster than most others. So I didn't make the same mistake again and basically just kicked from the turn into the wind on my own. This worked great as I caught runner after runner and went by most of them fast enough that they couldn't latch on. The only guy that answered was an Augustana guy that I passed right after the turn and the two of us kicked in one more gear with 50-100 to go with me getting him at the line. This extra kick brought my past Bennet Moser and into 7th place overall. I ended up catching 4 of the 5 Wartburg guys that were ahead of me.
The race was very similar to conference senior year and I'm happy to have run 30 seconds faster than that race. I was hoping for 26:00-26:15 on a good condition day so to only be second off with tough weather and a tactical race got me really excited. I don't really feel like I ran one of my smartest races but I fought really hard when I needed to and was able to stay close enough to come through with a good finish. If the splits are correct I ran 4:58 last mile too. Overall it was a really good day and a lot of fun.