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Notes

BHS Alumni 5K, TAKE TWO! Nearly double the turnout of last year and a LOT more spectators. Great showing, hopefully even more next year. Alumni sweep 1-2-3 for the second year in a row and take it 21-36. EXTREMELY hot, we will NOT be doing this run at 4PM anymore and will probably move it to Thanksgiving. GRUELING race, very tough. Definitely worse than last year. Plus, BHS has a terrible course, very tough.

Executed this race well but I'll admit it was a little closer than I might have liked. Taylor, Spencer, and I talked beforehand and all agreed that no one should try to really push it for at least the first mile and probably not until 2, and the high schoolers were even on board. No strategy secrets, it was just a matter of who could run tough. There was a pack of about 7 for the first uphill mile, which we hit in about 6:07, but in these conditions, honestly felt much faster. People started to drop after that, and the pack turned to 5. I got into 4th but started to lose a little contact, though I was saving energy for the big uphill. Tyler (a new 1:57 guy) had about 10 seconds on me at 2, and Taylor and Spencer had about 10 on him. Second mile in about 6:20 through the miserable hills in the miserable fields. Started cooking on the last downhill, shadier mile and finally caught Tyler with about .5 to go. Third mile was 4:48 (again, downhill) with a 35 200 to finish getting that 3 spot. This year I was slower through 2 miles but overall faster by 1 second in the end in much worse conditions. We were all surprised Tyler was in the mix so much. Obviously he's fast, but he was a non-factor in the race last year. Did not expect to be behind him by 2, and was worried that he'd have a killer kick, but the heat and hills took it out of his legs. Kid's going to have a killer season though.

Final times were 17:24 for Taylor and 17:42 for Spencer, just to give an idea of how shitty today was. Even with conservative first miles, both called the race an honest effort. Hard to get excited about a 17:50 but I'm sure it's good for a lot faster. With no workouts yet, I can get pumped about this one.

P.S. Class of 2009, 100% attendance! Yeahhhh!

P.P.S. I should write a book.

P.P.P.S. Rough map added but I have no way of really mapping the woods accurately.