Notes
My only goal today was breaking 18, didn't care so much about place.
Woke up early, got in a shakeout, then ate a Clif Bar, drank some water, and got ready. Canton is 45ish minutes away from me, so I made sure to get there with enough to get a proper warmup in. Ran another mile there, did our typical warmup + 2 strides, then waited for the race to start. This was my fourth time running this course, so I'm very familiar with it. Nice and flat, perfect for a PR
I went out a little faster than I should have (around 5:30 pace), but I fixed that pretty quickly. Got passed by the eventual winner in the first quarter mile, then the second place guy not too long after that, but I just focused on my own race. I knew breaking 18 meant running at least a 5:47 pace, so I aimed for that.
Hit 5:45 on the first mile, which felt pretty quick, thankfully. It's the second mile that feels meandering, to me anyways, plus there's a turnaround point that kills your momentum a bit. Thankfully it didn't affect me too badly, and I ran a 5:47.
I remember Josh saying at Nationals that he never felt like he really hit his stride during the race, and I felt like that here until we reached the third mile. My quads were feeling a little tight, but I knew there wasn't much longer to go, and I managed to find some kind of rhythm that carried me into the final stretch. I kicked in the final quarter mile, and then ran even faster when I saw I'd run a 5:45 third mile. Finished strong, happy, and satisfied with my time and effort.
Third place overall for the day (top two guys tied with something like 17:20), top of my age bracket, won a medal and a pie
This is a good base to build on for track season. Grateful as ever to be healthy to run well.