Notes
Nothing to like about heading out this morning. After all the rain yesterday, woke up to 2" of new snow. Strong wind and chilly. Challenging course. Had a plan B to run 20 elsewhere today if the footing was bad but it was not.
5 miles WU and a few long strides while waiting to start. Given that my last 15k was 7 years ago at this race, it was going to be a PR regardless. Had a tentative goal of 60 minutes, or 6:26 pace. Problem with pacing is the 350' elevation loss in the early miles.
Garmin dumped my data, so splits are off memory:
6:12, 6:19, 6:12, 6:20
Ran through the first mile with a good group and in 7th. Going comfortably by feel and was able to chat with Wade in the early miles. The end of Quick Rd is really steep down and I was happy to finally get to the bottom. First 5k in 19:15-ish.
Time to pay the piper. The start of Northhampton climbs 100' in about a quarter-mile. (Check the map)
Mile five in 7:20, six in 6:21, and not sure of the last three.
At the mile five mark, places 3-5 ran ahead of me with a 40 yd lead and started to lose contact by mile 6. Ran alone in space for the remainder. I thought I was running about 6:30 pace with hopes of breaking one hour but fell a little short. Last 5k in about 20 min. Sixth place.
Happy with the effort on a cold windy day. 5 mile cool-down for 20 on the day. Six weeks to Boston and there's still time to sharpen up a bit.