Notes
Gorgeous day, temps were perfect and the course was in decent shape. I ran the first three under 7:00 pace, but felt very slow leading up to the hill. The monster hill begins at about 2.5 miles in, and slowed my next mile down to 8:15. It was clear that my lack of all speed work would have consequences. This was the first time in this race that I survived the downhill in miles 4 and 5 without side stitches, they didn't kick in until well past mile 5. I shook it off and kept the next few miles under 7:00 pace. Mile 8 was slightly uphill in 7:10, which I made up for in mile 9 with a 6:50 when Craig Stokowski passed me with a look that said, "Well, are you coming?". The final uphill mile took me 7:11, working hard to close a big gap. Normally I pass a few people over these last couple hills, but there was no one around. I found simply nothing there when I dug for a little more speed in my legs. Still crossed the line with a 0:58 second PR, besting my time from two years ago. Hopefully this is a good omen. Jones is my first serious effort of the season, and a brutal, humbling course.