Notes
This was the most nerve-wracking pre-race experience I've had! Staying with Michelle on Mt. Washington should've been handy--just a 2 mile run down to Station Square--but of course, we got a super late start and she said she knew where were supposed to pick up our packets up, but we couldn't find it, and it was 20 min til the race start! I went to the starting line and lo and behold, the elite coordinator was there with our bibs (M was nowhere to be found!). Whew! I fit in a few strides, peed behind a concrete pillar, and then the race started! HR was up from all the stress, if not from a good warmup :).
Ran with Ivan for the first 5-6 miles, then was alone for most of miles 6-9, when it got tough. The course was pretty rolling (basically the first 10 miles of the Pgh Marathon course backwards), but seemed a little more challenging than I'd expected. When we got to the Strip, it was surprisingly windy. I did feel pretty good most of the race, until the normal fatigue sets in the second half. First mile was 6:01, then on pace for the next few miles (hit the 5 mile mark in 30:50, which was exactly what I wanted, 6:10 pace), but dropped off the second half, with a bunch of 6:20s/6:25s, but finished in 6:07. PR'ed by ~25 seconds, and pretty happy with the race, but would've liked to go under 1:02. Still slightly slower than my half PR pace (6:13), but looking back, I've had a pretty intense last couple weeks, so I'm sure my legs weren't totally fresh.