Notes
I'm guessing 80/75 and sunny. 4th overall in 40:11 at the Patriots Run 10k. 5k Split 19:09. Much tougher weather and hills than I was expecting. The 5k and 10k started together, so I couldn't tell who I was competing with at first. In the first mile I let some faster people go and ran with a group of three women, which soon became one (the top female). At about 2.5 miles she faded a bit behind me right as we approached a guy who was falling back after having gone out faster than us. As we were running up a hill I pushed it to get separation from both of them and succeeded. The problem is that this little surge tired me out and the next runners were so far ahead that I couldn't even see them. It looks like I slowed down after the first mile, but that just reflects the course: the first mile was downhill but all the others included plenty of uphill. Strava puts miles 1-3 all at 6:15 GAP. But after that little surge just before halfway I was tired and had no targets, so I slowed to low 6:30s GAP according to Strava for miles 3-6. Again, it looks like I slowed down further, but that just reflects increasing uphills on the course. In fact I ran the first half at one even effort, and the second half at another even effort that translates to about 15 seconds slower per mile. Once I recalibrated my effort after halfway, I didn't let up at all. Maybe I could have pushed harder if I had a target. But given that I was in no man's land for the entire second half, I think I ran about as well as I could have in these conditions.