Notes
Lots of things could have gone better.
First, it was raining all week and race morning was no different as a light rain made everything that much more challenging. We were in for more mud, muck, and slippery cobblestone than the typical 5k down at Brack.
I was still going for a PR and really thought I could sniff sub-22. That was not to be.
Got a little bit of a late warm up and the cattle call had already started when D and I got to the start. Made my way up to the top third of starters, but knew I was going to be dodging the wabbits.
The gun sounded and we were off. After weaving thru traffic for the first quarter to half, I took an assessment and realized I was on pace and feeling strong. Managed the first 0.5mi @ 7:35, so decided to pick it up. Was able to hold that until halfway when we were strung out far enough that the goal switched to reeling in the runners ahead of me. On the straights, I could se 6 or 7 close enough that I thought I could manage to catch them. This worked pretty well until the end.
Two guys in my sights as we crossed the bridge at 2.75mi and were directed to the left for the home stretch. After about a quarter of a mile, we start seeing guys running BACK towards us. Well, that sucks. Sure enough we all missed the unmarked, unmanned final turn onto a cobblestone sidewalk. Turned around and ran until we found the missed turn and sprinted to the finish at 22:39.
That little .12mi detour ended up costing me 50 seconds, my PR, sub-22, and eventually a medal (missed 3rd AG by 9 seconds to a guy who was well behind me). This was disappointing, by I took satisfaction in knowing that my fitness continues to progress nicely. I think sub-21 is very do-able this year.
At any rate, after I gathered myself, I jogged back to the final turn to make sure folks knew where to turn. All seemed to be right by then, so I jogged back until I found D and helped pace her home. She was suffering a bit, but holding strong to a manageable pace and just squeezed in under 40.