Notes
3 days in a row with difficulty sleeping, wine last night and coming off two marathons. I've had little running as I've been focused on recovery so I had really no idea how this would turn out. Gwen, Greg, me and my friend Dean rode together. Greg found me at the start line just before the gun since he forgot to pack his Garmin. His only request was that I run the first mile at 6:40 so he could find his groove and then I could back off and settle in. I didn't think this was going to happen so I agreed and decided to see how it went. Although we were somewhat near the front of 2,200 runners, we started slow and congested, having to weave for the first half mile. Mile 1 went pretty well but there was some downhill. Mile 2 was also pretty decent in that respect. By mile 4 Greg was holding steady at about 30 feet in front of me and with the various ups and downs I thought I was cooked once I saw that 15 second reduction for the 4th interval. That's when I decided to run by feel. I was feeling sort of floaty through mile 5 and much to my surprise I was running near 5k pace. I started to reel in Greg by this point and made my reveal about halfway through that mile, right on his hip. I had heard about the hill at the end and I was relieved when it was over and I could cruise in on a downward decline. But wait! That wasn't the hill! There was another just after 6 and this is where I tried to turn on the afterburners and kick it through the downhill fininsh. I thought for certain that Greg would smoke me up this last hill and I would have to try to kick to a photo finish. I crossed the finish line and regained my breath as Greg graciously congratulated me. Market Sqaure Day is really cool with lots of streeet vendors and freebies. We met a few CN runners for drinks afterwards and enjoyed a fantastic day. We are all really pleased with today's effort and result.