Notes
Pre-race: Arrived in Grant park an hour before the start. Gear checked, short warm up jog and a pit stop in the port-o-let before reporting to start corral 20 minutes before the start. Elites come out, national anthem and we're under way.
Mile 1 (6:30): Very relaxed. I deliberately let myself get caught in traffic to prevent myself from going out too fast.
Mile 2 (6:34): Plenty of room to move around now. Still well within myself...confidence building and passing all the fools that went out too fast.
Mile 3 (6:35): Still floating along. Turned back toward the lake into a stiff but manageable wind at about 2.5. Starting to work on picking up the pace.
Mile 4 (6:23): Roll through 5k about 10sec faster than my PR from Dec (this was expected). Pace increased and steadily passing people.
Mile 4.97 (6:09): Continued to push the pace, just floating down Michigan ave. Up a small hill on Roosevelt and letting it all hang out down the final stretch on Columbus.
Conclusion: I probably could have picked up the pace earlier and broke 32, but I'm not complaining. Not bad considering it's my first hard 8k since college. This is just another stop along the road to being able to say "I'm back"
Link to this page: http://tinyurl.com/shuffle2010