Notes
32 degrees with 12 mph wind from NNW for 23 degree feel-like temp......Cold. Took almost 3 miles to warm up. Ran a couple of miles with Pfau. He asked me what I was looking for and I told him as close to 18 flat as possible. He then proceeds to tell me he isnt in shape yet. Yeah, right. I tell him his out-of-shape is better than 95% of peoples' in-shape. He doesnt try to bullshit me any more.
Ran out and across the three foot bridges to see how they were looking. All three ice-covered and slick. Hoping the sun would come out to take care of #1 and #3 bridges but it remained cloudy so have to deal with it. Fortunately, the rest of the course is relatively dry with decent footing.
Crowd with several of the ND HS XC team and usual suspects of Kear, Pfau and the ND boys in the front. I am sitting on second row and Andy J is behind me. First half will have the wind to our backs and the return route will be against the wind AKA Bob Seger.
Take off and in about 10th place coming toward the first bridge. Several people back off near the bridge and I slow down and stutter-step across the bridge planks.... damn slick. In 6th place at the one mile mark in time of 5:46 per garmin and close to three ND kids. Like the current pace and feeling good with the turnover; focus on holding current pace toward turn-around cone. About 15 seconds back of Pfau and Kear at the turn point as they are running together. Pass 2 HS kids about 20m after turning and closing on M Peters. Catch him about 1.75 miles and ask him if he wants to see if we can make up some ground on the leaders. He goes with me for about 100m then starts to fall back. Meanwhile, the two leaders have decided to quit dicking around and are opening the gap fast. Mile two at 11:35 with 5:49 mile split. It starts to snow lightly.
I am now in no-mans land but concentrating on maintaining turnover as dont want the HS kids to smell any blood in the water. Third mile split = 5:56 and 17:30 elapsed as I am slowing some but do not hear anyone behind me. Started picking up the pace after tip-toeing over the final bridge for the final .25 miles of the race. Crank out the final .15 miles and feeling pretty good at the end.
Across the line in 17:55 with 3.10 miles on the garmin. 3rd OA to 2 guys who are both 22 years younger than I am. Pfau outkicks Kear at the end. Man kick vs boy kick on that one.
3.10 miles in 17:55 = 81.34% and 31th sub-18 min race. Age-graded result = 15:48.
40th 5K race completed in 18:10 or below.
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Good race in cold conditions. Had to tip-toe over 6 bridge crossings and think that cost me 10-12 seconds. Believe 17:40 is realistic with a nicer day, no ice and less wind. Chalk one up for the CBEM crew.