Notes
Was questionable and strongly considered a DNS for this race. My sinus infection was raging and my cough was back, but things stabilized some after I was out of bed so I decided to head out.
Note to self: I can hustle out the door to a race, but my partner is not as fast. He had the "audacity" to want to shower and shave before leaving, so we had an awful fight. We rushed to the start area and I grabbed my registration form and materials while he parked the car. I ran to the place that registration was supposed to happen, only to be told it was 3 blocks away. I had 8 minutes until the gun, and Tony (my partner) was nowhere in sight. I ran to registration, assuming he would be directed as well.
Got in a short warm-up between the run to the registration and a 3 minute jog up and down the street. My knee, which was sore earlier, loosened up. No sign of my partner when we lined up for a chaotic start. I started off the first mile too fast, and looked down my watch at the .4 mile point and was in the low 8:00 miles. Easing up some, I finished Mile 1 with an 8:13 time, making me highly suspicious I was in the low 7's. The pack started to pull away from me after mile 1 and I focused on running my own race.
The course was set up in two loops, and you pass the finish at mile 1.3ish, and I was still fast, since the clock was showing 12:XX as I ran past it. I finished mile 2 at a much more comfortable 9:10 pace. At this point, my sinus infection started to complain about being out in the cold and windy 27 degree weather. My eyes were tearing, my nose was ruinning, and breathing hurt. Even worse, the closest person in front of me was about a quarter mile aheas and I was not closing the gap. There was about another 1/8 of a mile to the next runner behind me, so I was running practically alone. There also was no sigh of my partner anywhere along the course, so I started getting paranoid he was mad and left me at the race.
I figured I could ease up and still blow past my 29:28 PR, and worry about a better time when I was healthier. However, I had a secret goal to come in right around the 27:00 mark or just below, and I still could pull that off. My pace had eased to 9:30 mm to accommodate the sinus pain, but I decided to pick it up and go for it. Mile 3 was completed at a 9:11 mm pace, and I pushed to the finish with no one in front of me and someone trying to pass me and finished in 27:22.
Not quite the PR I wanted, but still something I'm happy with. Mostly, I'm proud that as sick as I am that I even chose to start, and prouder still that when I could have backed off on the solo portion of the course (not even a spectator or squirrel) I dug down and pushed to the end.
A great start to the year, and hopefully a sign I can HTFU and get back into a training groove.