Notes
Everyone was pretty excited to get started, so maybe not a bad thing that a headwind and cold limbs kept most people to a conservative start. I tried to be smart, draft, and generally not care about my pace. 1st mile was 6:07, by far my slowest start to any race of this or similar length.
The 2nd mile started right when we got a tailwind, and also contained a 100ft hill descent. So yeah, not surprising to see a 5:33 mile (nor that the lead women got way ahead of me during this mile as well). I wouldn't normally advise a 34sec change in pace, but this was alright.
I found myself with Sutton and Ben Jacobs. Sutton hung back after a mile but stayed close and would catch back later. Jacobs and I hung together for the next 6 miles. We stayed fairly close to 5:50, though it wasn't as smooth as that sounds. Every time we turned East involved a good amount of jockeying for position as it was into a rough wind. We also were always necessarily working together, but it worked out. We passed a good amount of people including Canton, Mitch, and the main pack of women (1 had broken away).
Before the biggest hill, I heard Sutton coming back to us (along with Jason Thomas). I wasn't feeling great anymore and let all 3 get away from me. After the summit, as I knew another long downhill was soon coming, I made a push. I passed Ben and Jason and got close to Sutton, then relaxed on the downhill.
But a 5:39 on the downhill wasn't as relaxing as would have been nice. My new pace was 6flat and Sutton gradually ran away. Thomas passed me and a mile later I was passed by someone new (I guess 1 person was more conservative than me). 2 miles of 6flat before I made a push in the 12th mile to hit a 5:50. I wasn't catching anyone though and the last .4 was average. I wouldn't say I was slacking, but a better place nor time was motivating me (time was going to be slow and I already knew this would be my best place ever: 20th among men, 21st overall).
Another race where the time wasn't impressive at all but my place was good. Also nice to be back in the age group awards (4th). My stomach was good enough. It wasn't forgettable, but it didn't make me slow down. Though if the reason for that is very little climbing/working-out for a week, well that's not really a great solution.