Notes
Unfortunately with the week of no running, I felt pretty similar to my last Thursday Night Trail Race, fit, but not race-ready. The 2 guys that beat me last time were present along with 2 others that looked fit, and they were the ones to take the lead right away with week 1 2nd place (Jackson) behind them, then me, then week 1 1st pace (Oliver).
The first mile was a generally a slight downhill. 1 guy went off the front as I felt comfortable with the pace but couldn't get my breathing under control. I let Oliver pass me. Like week 1, I stayed controlled on the uphills and got dropped. I maintained contact for the next mile before catching up on a downhill. Once back on though, I had preferred going my own pace.
About halfway was a long steady uphill and Oliver passed Jackson with a strong move. I thought about passing as well but that became not a choice as Jackson stepped off the trail to stretch or adjust something.
For the next mile I tried to run strong hoping to see someone fading up ahead, but that wasn't happening. So the motivation was waning as I started up Doom Climb which was quite steep and brought me to a stagger. I recovered enough to give a decent effort for the final mile just in case someone really died on that hill, but mostly I just watched my GPS and didn't punish myself much. 4th pace, about a minute back from 3rd.
I'm not sure how I'll feel for the final race next week, but maybe I should rein in my expectations in. Maybe I would be losing even if I had made every race and hadn't missed a week. It's just weird to lose to guys who seem impressed by a sub 3 marathon.