Notes
A new PR, but not much better than my 8k time from a year ago. Very tough race today and lots of things went wrong. First off, I get a late start this morning. The registration line was long, Then my garmin took for ever to sink up. The race was scheduled for 830 and i didn't get start warming up until about 815. I ran a mile warmup and stretched for only about 5 minutes and I couldn't do any strides. All morning long I could seem to get mentally prepared right. A lot negative thoughts popping in my head. The first mile I started running comftorbly hard like I thought I should. When I reached the official first mile mark the split called out was only 7:30, too slow for how I was feeling to realize sub 45 was even possible. I maintained that steady hard effort along some inclines. I figured sub 47 will be possible by the way I was feeling and running. About a mile and a half into the race my mouth was already starting to dry up. At this point I could really start to feel the temperature rise, but pushed on. At this point I was ready for the next water station, but it didn't come until mile 2. I was so glad to see it, but there was only 2 people there, and they had no water poored for me. They weren't keeping up with the runners going by. I was really pissed at this point and negativity really started to swell. I managed to hold my pace through the end of mile 4. I missed my 5k mark by about 20s when I crossed the half way point in 23:15. Nearing the end of mile 4 I was really feeling aweful. I ended up stopping at this water station to make sure I'd get a good drink. It wasn't really enough. When I started running again I wasn't able to get back to the pace I was at. At mile 5 my pace dropped to 8:30. Same with mile 6. I was thought this was never going to end. All I could think about was how disappointed I would be if I didn't at least break 50, so pushed on. I did have a fairly decent finish. I out kicked one guy but was out kicked by another. After talking to others after the race, I realized I wasn't the only one disappointed in their performance. So I am not feeling to bad.