Notes
great morning in terms of weather for a race. I have run this course several other times so I knew it was nice and flat and a great one to run a good time on. Coming into the race I really wanted to win. I have been second and third here and have never pulled out the W. Once I started warming up a saw a bunch of really good runners. Some of them I knew and I know they are in better shape than I am. Got a little annoyed at first because I really wanted to win today, but after the race was over I completely changed my feelings on this. I was able to use these guys to pace off of and set a really aggressive pace and they pulled me to a great effort. I guess I am more rewarded by running a time I didn't think I could and really challenging my pace vs just winning a race and probably not running as hard as I could. I still need to work on giving it my all. Lately when I finish races I am completely fine right after. I think I can no longer put myself into as much pain as when I was a youth.
First half mile of the race I kept myself about 2-3 seconds behind the lead pack just to see what they would do at the start and how fast they would be going. After about 3/4 of a mile I decided it was stupid to run by myself right behind them and just surged up to the leaders. At that point I stopped caring about what pace I thought I should be able to run or couldn't run and just focused on sticking with this aggressive pack. I wasn't worried about what was going to happen the next mile. I just took it one mile at a time. Going into the race I figured I could run 27:15 give or take. I ran that 27:45 at our home meet, but was out in a 5:40 when I did that. I think I realized at our home meet how hard it is to go out slow and then end up with fast people by the end or even pick up your pace that much from the tone you set the first mile. More power to guys like Dj who can negative split the crap out of XC races.
Anyways, back to the race. We hit the mile in 5:15...which was way faster than I had planned...but at the same time this was a race. My goal was to show up and compete. If that's what the pack wanted to hit then I had to hit that if I wanted to be part of it. Otherwise I can go run by myself behind them and have no momentum. 2 mile was in 10:31 and at that point we dropped 2 guys from the group. One gradually and the other one fell off real hard. I just tried to stay relaxed and pretended like I was just in another day at practice with the guys doing a road tempo. I was for sure tired at this point but I was trusting my strength and knew that even if I fell off eventually I wouldn't die that bad. 2 miles in we had already set ourselves way ahead of the field and I knew that I was strong enough to at least hold my spot. Kept taking it one mile at a time and hit the 3 mile around 15:40 something. At this point the top 2 guys picked up the pace which left me and another guy together back in 3rd. I did my best to just hold my own and not let them pull away by to much. 5k was in 16:19 and 4 mile was 21:09. Last mile wasn't that bad because I knew I had made it through the bulk of the race at a fast pace and that I was almost done. All I had to do was run hard for about 3 more minutes and I would then be able to see the finish line...which I was sure would give me the final mental boost I would need. 3rd place guy inched away from me the last mile but I just did my best to hold my own and stay competitive.
Obviously I ran about a minute faster than I thought I was currently capable. I had the wrong attitude going into the race and the right attitude leaving it. Competition is good. If I always raced guys at or bellow my level then that really isn't much of a challenge. Just got my head into the moment and went out and competed. I'm pretty sure my time was a course record...but since I was 4th I am now the 4th fastest time on that course. Not a lifetime best, but the fastest I have run since college for sure. I think about 6-7 years ago I ran a 26:50 or something like that, so this was great to see.
Molly on the other hand got out really slow and ended up just staying slow. She said it was hard to get around people and into a faster pack so she just lost contact and motivation and just stayed slow.