Notes
Was browsing RunningintheUSA and stumbled upon this about 25min from my hotel. It was a "championship" race for a local running club but it was open to everyone and only $10 to enter so I figured why not! Looked to be a very tiny race in years past with winning times generally north of 6' pace (though a quick one slipped in every so often) so I thought it would be a fun way to get a good workout in. Best of all, non-members can't win awards so I could PTFO after with no regrets! There was also an option to do the 7mi and 5k for just a little more $ but I didn't really feel like waiting ~45min to the 5k since it started at 10, and 7mi was enough for me anyway. 7mi is basically a 10k but is just different enough to make it intriguing... nothing exciting about a ho-hum 5k.
It was fun! Seems like a fun club. Nice course, made me feel like I was in the northeast. Roads weren't closed but no problems with traffic, and they actually had a surprising number of cones on the roads. Very Roxbury-road-race-y experience (I miss those!), especially the odd distance. There were some gradual minor inclines and small downhills but on the whole a flat, fast course. Temperature was perfect for me.
I figured I'd keep it around 6', maybe a bit under if I was feeling good or if anyone was going faster. Started pretty casually, had one guy for company for a bit, but when I found an easy rhythm about a half mile in, he started falling back. From there I was alone but I planned on that anyway. Stayed very relaxed through 4, was getting antsy on 5 but wanted to hold off until the last 2... wasn't looking to cook myself today. Last 2 felt good, still wouldn't say I was all-out racing but was definitely giving a comfortably hard effort. Maybe 5 at tempo effort and 2 at 10k? Doesn't matter, was an enjoyable quality run that I surely wouldn't have done on my own. Ended up faster than planned, certainly knew I was capable of the time but maybe didn't expect it to come so easily.