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Notes

8.5 mile race this morning. The kids and wife waited in the car playing games and eating cookies while I did my race and waited for the 1.5 mile family fun run.

The race started a little late, and it was cold and drizzling. I just couldn't wait to get started. I did a very short warm up of maybe a mile with a few strides. I lined up a few people deep and waited for the race to start.

I had an initial plan of going out at 7:40 pace, but I ended going out at 7:24 pace. OK a little fast, but not too fast. I slowed a little to my planned pace ~ 7:35ish. The surface that we were running on was loose dirt covered with pecan shells. I expected this to slow me down even more, but I guess it didn't play too much of a role. I tried to stay on the side of the path where the dirt was better packed down.

My goal for this race was to not get passed in the last few miles due to a slowing pace. I almost accomplished this goal. No one passed me from miles 1-8. I did pass 2 people around mile 2 and felt great.

At mile 7.5 I heard foot steps. I really tried to push the pace but ended up just keeping the same pace :/ By mile 8.25 he had caught up to me. I just tried to keep his pace and let him pull me in, but he was maintaining a 6 min/mile pace. I kept this for a very short period before I couldn't maintain the pace any longer and let him go. I slowed back down for a short period, then attempted a slight kick at the end.

I think I came in at 1:02:52 or so. When I looked at my watch it said 1:03:11. I thought I stopped my watch but guess I didn't until a few minutes later.

Overall a great race since I surprised myself with the pace I kept.