Notes
New 15km PR
Got the race plan from Mike (Toomey) the night before the race:
6:15 for first mile, steady or slightly faster for second mile. Pick up the effort through the big hill in the middle of the course. Try to get sub-6 for the back half of the course.
The race started relatively slowly and I was in the lead pack for the first 0.5 miles. Then the CMS guys and Dave Corbett started pushing the pace a little. I fell back with Mike (Paulin) and Mike (Girouard) into somewhat of a chase pack. Mile 1 -- 6:08.
Kept it steady through mile 2 because I was a few seconds ahead of pace. At mile 2 (12:28) I noticed that Mike Paulin had pulled away a bit so I picked up the pace and caught him at mile 3 (18:19). I ran with Mike up the big hill (missed the 4 mile split). We came out of the turn around and into the mile 5 marker (31:28) a bit behind pace but feeling pretty good.
We came down the hill quite quickly and by mile 7, I caught sight of a CMS runner not that far in front of us and I picked up the pace again. Around mile 8, I passed the CMS runner and then just kicked it in to the finish for 7th place in 56:42 (a PR by 1:24). Mike and Mike came in close behind with the CMS runner right between them.
I missed my goal of a 56:00 race, but I was pleased with how easy it felt to run 15km at a 6:05 min/mile average pace. I'm looking forward to the Jones 10 Miler, but there's a chance I'll be in Korea and have to miss this one.