Notes
BIB #1265
Where to start, I hadn't prepared at all for this race and had not done much speed work in the last few weeks. I only entered the race as I had a free entry since I finished 3rd in the Age-Group at the Drumstick Dash last year. I thought briefly about skipping the race altogether, but I had already picked up my BIB and race chip yesterday. I didn't lay anything out in preparation for the race last night and sat and putzed around the house in the morning before it was time to go. As I parked and was walking down to the start line, I looked on my wrist to notice that I didn't have my Garmin watch or my heart rate monitor on with me. Whenever I leave the house for a race, I always make sure to have the chip and BIB with me but I also need to start remembering to bring the watch. Oh well I first thought, maybe I'll just run for fun. As we lined up, I was hoping to spot someone who I knew could run somewhere right under 40 minutes so I would have someone to follow. No luck. Race starts and I just start running. I run hard but feel that maybe I could run harder but without the heart rate monitor, I didn't want to push it too much. I figured they would have a 5K split time as they did last year so I could use that as a gage of trying to get under 40 minutes. Just my luck, after the first lap around the lake, I look to see that there's no 5K mat or time clock. Great, I have no idea what my first 5K time was at. As we passed the finish line mat with the first lap, I see the clock reading about 20:30, but I'm not positive what distance we specifically were at. I continued to run and start to just pick off the people in front of me. Overall, passed around 5 people on the second lap and never got passed. As we came down the final approach to the finish line, I couldn't see the clock as the spectators were lined up near the street. Only when I was about 30 feet from the finish line, I could see the clock reading 40:05 and ticking and I thought crap maybe I am just over 40 minutes. I didn't know what my chip start time was so I had to wait until the official results came out. 3 freaking seconds over 40. If I had my watch, I am almost certain I probably could have gotten under 40, but oh well. Was never going to be a PR anyways.