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3/20/2016

13.1 mi

1:07:34

5:10 mi

Notes

Great race! Super solid effort, mostly mentally. It felt similar to the 5k where I was able to actively keep my mind in the race and push when it felt really hard. Going into the race I was worried about the weather and fatigue from last week, neither seemed to be a big factor. Around mile 7 I felt tired and wondered if I'd be able to hold that effort, which I was able to do just fine.

I went out at the tail end of the lead pack (12th place). I was able to tuck in and get some relief during the strong headwind. We dropped the pace significantly in the 2nd mile. Coming up to the hills in miles 3 & 4 I decided to back off and let the group go and sustain a somewhat slower pace. I was glad I did and still hit solid splits (5:13, 5:18).

Once on the flat section heading back the other way, I felt pretty even for effort, but not totally settled into a groove. I was about 5-10 seconds off the chase pack starting that stretch. About mile 6 I got a sense that I was moving up on them and had closed the gap to 4 or 5 seconds. I decided it was dumb to keep running behind them, so I made a long surge and caught them just after 7. The pace dropped almost immediately when I caught them (partly because the course turned into a headwind). I took the lead and decided to push past them. Brad Mish surged to stay with me and cut me off so I passed him and kept rolling into a 4:56 8th mile. At that point I could start to see 6th place, which gave me a target. After the the turn around mile 10 I realized that the leaders weren't all that far ahead, only about 45 seconds. It was great to feel that close to the top pack.

I kept moving up on 6th place, but my splits were slowing and I was feeling super tired. I knew it would be a big PR for the day, but really wanted to break 68. I kept calculating how much I could slow down and still get it. I figured that wasn't a great strategy. The 5:23 split got me nervous so I sped up at the 11 mile marker, which was right around the time I caught 6th place. I kept surging up the hill. I could see Senca and Jenkins had dropped off the front pack at that point. I don't know how I managed to split a sub-5 going up the hill, but I did. I wish I had pushed myself more in the last quarter. I think I held back because I knew I was well under 68. Felt great on the home stretch - big smiles. I thought I finished 7th, but results had me in 6th. I think there was at least one non-Grand Prix runner, so should pick up some more points.

1: 5:07

2: 10:07 (4:59)

3: 15:21 (5:13)

4: 20:39 (5:18)

5: 25:40 (5:01)

6: 30:43 (5:02)

7: 35:52 (5:09)

8: 40:49 (4:56)

9: 46:00 (5:11)

10: 51:17 (5:17)

11: 56:40 (5:23)

12: 61:37 (4:57)

13: 66:45 (5:08)

67:34 (49)

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