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Notes

Didnt see that coming.

Once i saw the forecast was for wind and cold rain, I decided to revert this to an MP run. Then after an easy w/o yesterday, I figured I'd get to the starting line and see how i felt there.

4:15am wake up call to get to Philly in time. picked up my sister and got to the race by 7, with an hour to kill.

did a short warm up with a disposable parka on, and was still shivering in the wet/cold. my bib number was in the 9000's which seeded me with the walkers. everyone was cool and I got towards the front easily. saw a couple guys from the corporate team (Paul and Scott) also in the front, both said they were aiming for 1:25. Decided I'd try to hang with them and see how it felt, maybe get a PR as the training has gone well this winter.

Probably started the race in 50th place or so. hung with Paul who was coming off a 50k last week so starting slow. hung with him until a short downhill at mile 4 where I picked up pace.

wind was in our faces from mile 3 to mile 9. I left Paul and started moving up and picking off people pretty quickly. felt awesome but it also made it hard to draft anyone so it was solo into the wind.

hit a decent hill around mile 5, and rolled right up it passing several others. from that point on i was able to move up consistently, and couldnt believe my half way time translated to low 1:2x. I was gaining speed and picking people off, with no sense of needing to slow down, especially after coming back downhill around mile 7.

made the turn at mile 9 or so, and the ~10mph headwind finally turned into a tailwind. at the turn I was in 19th place, but one dude took the turn wide and i passed him on the inside like he was standing still.

moved up a few more places, and had my sights on my other teammate, Scott, who was in 15th. passed a couple more dudes and caught Scott around mile 11. he was fading a bit and wasnt able to roll with me, so I decided to make a run at the next pack of 3 runners about 150m ahead of me. with a hard push, and despite the deteriorating weather (hard rain), I only caught a couple more of them but came up short of the third; still very stoked by my finish.

smoked a 5:45 or so that last mile. felt great and like that this could translate to a 2:50 if I have the balls to go for it. we'll see.