Notes
First one since 2011, seven years ago. Nye's first ever. He finished about 4 seconds ahead of me. I closed the gap to within 20 feet, but he sprinted in the last quarter mile. To be fair, he had a shoelace stop in the first mile, and would have been his typical quarter mile ahead of me. I picked off a few people in the 2nd half of the race who had passed me in the first half, including José from the B17 runs.
First two miles in 16:43 second two in 16:45, picked up a lot in the last two downhill. Last 2.2 was 17:42 for 8:03 pace. Probably was sub 7 in that last mile downhill. Shoes are too damn thin for the cold hard road, pain in my left is a limiting factor when sprinting. Took me a couple miles to get my breathing in gear. By the second half, I was prioritizing the inhale and gaining speed. Maybe the breathing or that I was no longer facing the wind, but I was much warmer. For example, I had settled into a relaxed even breathing pattern that I observed and maintained while a young lady passed me early in the third mile. I passed her in the fourth mile bounding, easily accelerating, with deep and long inhalation. Seems I held off Charles Vanasse, a familiar name from way back in the day, who had stayed on my tail throughout that strong second half and finisheed 15 seconds behind.