Notes
Wasnt feeling fast in the morning. A little groggy and stiffness in the legs. I think I peaked on Friday afternoon when I accidentally put down a sub 7 pace.
The race started and I tried to keep it easy. Was actually leading at the 800m mark, but by the end of the first mile the eventual leader had passed me. The garmin was off as I passed the first mile marker and several seconds later the watch logged the first mile in 535. Second mile, the legs were warm and I was running alone. First place had a 10 second lead by the 1.5 mark and was still pulling away. I struggled past the second mile marker looking down at my watch reading 1058, shocked to see I was right on pace. Only problem, there was a slight climb durning the last mile and knowing this made me know that nothing was going to come easy. By the time I started the "hill" first place was about 15 sec ahead. The next 600m up the hill were difficult, but I think I was keeping my pace. Giving me a boost was the large banner noting only half a mile left. I tried to surge as much as possible and empty the tank. Third mile clicked over at 526 pace. The final 0.10 is level with a slight downhill and the log shows a 450 pace for the final sprint. Watching the clock hanging over the finish line was painful and felt like I was running in slow motion. But 1658 is sub17 and I'll take it. Im not sure how much faster I could have run this morning. Perhaps there was a little time left on the clock, but not much. One interesting part about this is that I felt like I could have finished off mile four at at 530 pace. Ended the race 10 second behind the winner.