Notes
Weather was good (upper 40's and overcast). A little bit of a head wind once we exited Shelby Bottoms, but can't complain overall. The race quickly separated into the leaders (1st through 3rd) and a chase pack consisting of myself and two others. We did a decent job of trading off the lead as the race progressed (transitioning well as dark patches came and went). Lost one of the guys a little before the turnaround. Followed much of the way out of Shelby Bottoms and then lead from mile 10 to 12. Really got schooled by the guy at 12 though... Just before the mile marker he put on a quick burst and was suddenly 20 yards ahead. Was definitely struggling through a dark patch at that point, and just couldn't make up the gap over the final mile. It didn't help that we took a wrong turn either. Ended up not being much of a difference in distance (a few hundredths maybe), but something about feeling like I definitely screwed up the PR attempt was mentally draining... though as it turned out, if I would have sucked it up I may still have had a chance.
mile 1 & 2 - 10:55
mile 3 - 5:30
mile 4 - 5:27
mile 5 - 5:29
mile 6 - 5:26
mile 7 - 5:26
mile 8 - 5:29
mile 9 - 5:30
mile 10 - 5:31
mile 11 - 5:31
mile 12 - 5:28
mile 13.1 - 6:12 (5:39/mi pace... Eesh)
Overall, a good effort was fairly consistent splits. Didn't feel like I was breathing that well (a bit of a cold flaring up the asthma), so I was happy with the race I was able to generate. Unfortunate to have the final 1.1mi be the slowest split of the day. Not sure whether I ran out of gas mentally or physically (or both). I felt speed, strength, and endurance limited at one point or many during the race, so there's definitely a lot of work left to be done before GB.