Notes
Goal for the race was to try to get as close to 19 as possible. Had to register the morning of and felt a bit rushed but otherwise warm up went ok. Started the race way too hot as there were quite a few faster runners towards the front. Eased in by 1K but my pace had already begun to drop to close to 4:00 pace. There was headwind on the way out, maybe 15-20 km/h but had some protection when I was able to draft behind some bigger guys. Just past 1K a dog ran in front of me causing me to decelerate and jump to the side yet still couldn't avoid its paw. Quickly accelerated after this but it was a drain on my energy. Just couldn't motivate myself to push the pace any faster in the second km but part of it was from lactic building up too quickly from the hot start. A first 2K in 353, 3:53 would have been much better.
Wind seemed to ease up a bit between 2 and 2.5K and I was still feeling ok so managed to pick the pace back up a bit. We were also passing hoards of 10K runners, no weaving, but did require some concentration. Benefit was it also helped with pacing and keeping me focused. Accelerated off the turnaround, again maybe too fast, as I passed a guy that would later pass me and blow me away in the last km. Felt like I maintained a pretty steady pace in the second half with the wind behind me, breathing had already accelerated before 4K, but didn't feel any muscle soreness other than a general heaviness. Again just couldn't motivate myself to push harder despite having people to chase down. Ended up maintaining pace until a final burst in the last 100m.
I guess I'm pleased that this is a season's best but I feel I could have done better if I paced it better as this would have given me a chance to push harder in the second half. A proper taper would have also helped. Conditions weren't ideal due to the wind but they weren't that bad either, about as good as one can expect on this course in the fall.