Notes
Felt decent the first 9 miles or so, but the grindy hills over the last few miles and the high heat and humidity got to me a bit. Also my hamstrings and calves started to bother me as well. I think it was a combination of fatigue, dehydration, and grinding up the hills. Whenever I tried to increase/maintain the tempo they tried to cramp. Seemed like 6:15ish was all I could manage near the end. 5:46, 5:55 (11:41), 6:05 (17:46), 5:50 (23:37), 5:48 (29:26), 5:51 (35:17), 5:47 (41:04), 5:52 (46:57), 6:02 (52:59), 6:13 (59:12), 6:14 (1:05:27), 6:13 (1:11:41), 6:46 (1:18:28) (1.1). Spent the second half of the race completely alone. The top guy was WAY out in front (beat me by 8 mins), and by 7 miles, I left a couple of guys that I was around early on. I was a couple of minutes in front of the next guy by the end. Took 2nd overall and won $150. Not bad considering the paltry time. Felt like the time was worth a couple of minutes faster considering the conditions. Would really like to see how I could do with legitimate training.