Notes
Weather wasn't so bad, wind from the East which was quite strong in parts including the finishing stretch but there were a lot of people to run with so the wind was blocked out for the most part. Garmin got wacky pretty quickly so just tried to run by feel. Hit the first km around 3:41 - maybe a little too fast but was feeling pretty good and did have some tailwind at start. Second km was around 3:55 as there were a couple of uphill portions. 3rd km was mostly running up Queen's Park Circle, just tried to maintain a steady pace without blowing up so this was my slowest K at around 4:07. Noticed at halfway mark my time was around 9:39 so knew I was on pace for a great time as I was feeling pretty good, legs weren't too heavy. Just focused on making it to the top of the Circle and then running steady but strong downhill. Had a couple of problems in the 4th km during the slight uphills but was able to recover well and was still passing people, finished the mostly downhill 4th K in around 3:53. Last Km was a battle but was able to maintain form down the 830m homestretch. Had checked my watch before making the final turn so knew I could kit under 19:30 with a strong finish. The homestretch seemed neverending but wasn't tying up and had a slight kick at the end when I saw the clock had just turned 19:00. Last km ended up being around 3:41. Very happy with effort and didn't feel too spent after race. Looked like all I needed was a bit of rest leading into the race to prevent the heavy feeling in my legs. Legs had quite a bit of bounce throughout as stride length was much improved.