Notes
Garmin failed at 25.65. Aargh. Gray cool day, 47 at start, 48 at end of race. Race is on rail trail starting at Severna Park HS, then goes out 7 miles and back then out the other direction 6 miles and back, with a .5 side jaunt. We ran with the 600 or so HMers for the first 13 miles, so the course was crowded at first, but very empty after. Elev. gain and loss was around 506' so the course wasn't as flat as I expected. I intended to run about 9:45 average, so I'd finish around 4:14, but I followed someone running at about the pace I wanted, just a little fast, for the first 8 miles or so - 9:35. Then I was able to maintain that pace for the next 10 miles. It wasn't super easy, but it wasn't hard either. Lack of sleep the past two nights didn't help. I hoped to maintain pace at least for the first 18 miles, since I did that for the first 17 at Gettysburg. I was good for the first 19, but then at the turnaround the wind was in my face again (10 mph) and I was tired. I started doing more walking. My legs were rigid by that time, mostly left glutes and quads, but I didn't entirely feel my feet and was afraid my legs were going to collapse a couple of times. So I had a couple of hard miles 22-23. Still, I was still passing people and no one was passing me. I ran the last .25 hard, finishing at 4:16:47 chip time, 4:17:41 gun time. Final pace was 9:49, so not bad.