Notes
I got to the start line, chatted with a recent grad from Luther named Quinton, and we were off. I started easy, partly by strategy and partly due to some guys getting in my way who shouldn't have been that far up. I settled in rather quickly and started to look around me. I noted I was well behind some people I beat at CRANDIC and was being joined by the top woman whom I had also beat at CRANDIC. That spurred me to get moving as we crested the first slight incline. I passed the secondary pack and came through the mile in 5:37, faster than my previous 5k.
The 2nd mile would be much slower, 5:55, but it was completely uphill and I was cautious. I knew I was getting gained on by those behind me but was never passed (nor passed anyone). It wasn't until after the downhill when I rolled by the 2 ahead of me and we hit the 180 turn at halfway. I had the Luther kid and his brother a bit ahead of me and still a large pack behind me.
I rose back up the hill strongly as I was now confident in my legs and also I would have a mile downhill after. 5:36 for mile 3, which was promising. I tried to pick up the pace for mile 4, and I certainly did with a 5:23. It just seemed like I should have been able to do more as I couldn't get the turnover that I thought was still in me. These shoes may not be what I need for shorter races.
Final mile, generally flat compared to the middle miles. I didn't think I was being caught and was trying to catch some people up ahead. It just wasn't happening. I kicked it in and gained ground to get within 3 seconds though. 5:21 mile, which felt much more in control than my final mile of the 5k. 10th overall with 27:50.
I was a bit dejected when I saw the time. I know it made sense (especially with that 2nd mile), but this was the first time I'd felt like I had raced the whole distance since my last 8k (April 2021) and it was hard to see a time over a minute slower than a year ago. To be fair, today's race was warm, hilly, and I'm in base phase compared to the flat race in perfect conditions that I peaked for last year.
The takeaway should be that I'm gaining confidence, though I'll still need to figure out races where I need to eat beforehand. I'm not sure about any other races in July or August. Part of me says to get back to building mileage. The other part says I need to keep racing to normalize it.