Notes
Temp 67 Winds Calm. Humidity 89% Dew Point 64°.
Seventy some-odd this morning. Running club from local university front and center; some ran XC locally last year. Took off quick to get positioning and avoid traffic jam when leaving parking lot onto narrow trail. Pack of five from club chasing another college age kid who appears to be almost at a sprint. Get settled into my stride between 400-600 meters. Running in 7th place OA.
Catch first college clubber at about 1K. Another one just shy of first mile split. Glance at watch at mile marker and running 6:28 average pace. Larger gap between me and next runners. 50 foot incline heading to the turnaround point. Pull the pack back heading up. As expected with a younger crew, lose it all on the decline. Tugging on next clubber as we approach mile two split. Check watch as we go through it. Still averaging 6:28 pace.
Iron-Woman Barb manning water station. Ask sarcastically if anyone ahead of me is 50? She responded on key, "Maybe 12 year olds, you're good!". Pick off another clubber just past two mile split. 22-year old who looked like he took off at sprint next in line. I'm tugging, but not much and not much distance left. Get within four to six seconds of him, then he kicked about 400 meters out. No contest.
Cross at 20:15. Garmin distance 3.13 miles for...guess what...6:28 average pace. As wise man said afterward, was what it was today. 4th Overall. Top three 18, 19, and 22 years old; however, just last year might have beat all but one of them. Oh, well. Won age group by what I think was 7:00 minutes? For what its worth, Age Grades to 75.14% and increases about 0.60% in two weeks. No one else broke 70%.