Notes
Temps mid-70s and humidity high but no surprise there. Looks to be a smaller crowd than last time I raced here. Don't see many of the usual suspects but see several master's runners. Felt good warming up and looking to hold around 5:37-5:42 pace through at least first two miles and then not let the pace drift much over 6 flat the rest of the way.
Line up and see Shannon A, Paul Schell, Paul Fliege, several Jax runners and Logan Davis. Take off and I am in the lead. Feeling good and no one seems to want to work with me so I just go. Fast start due to 1st block downhill so get a good running start. Head up Main street and following the police car. Logan should be up front so he must be tempoing the course. Talk with him after the race and that is exactly what he did. Hit the turn around mark at about 1.2 miles and as I turn around the cone see I have about a 60-70m lead on one of the HS runners. Find out later it is Cody Green. Paul F. is in third, about 15 meters behind Cody.
Still feeling good and have hit the first mile split in 5:39.9. Perfect. Working to hold pace through second mile. Hit second mile split at 5:41/11:20 elapsed time. Still feeling good but know the cardiovascular drift will begin somewhere in the middle of this mile. Not sure where the HS kid is. Run up Main street hill and head to riverfront street. Glance back as I turn the corner and see the second place kid has not gained any ground. Just about run into the police escort as he has slowed down for the turn. Fuc#. About 2.4 miles in and starting to feel the heat. Work to push through the next .25 mile at pace before I have to slow down. Turn right to get back onto Spanish Street and my garmin says I am running right at/below 6 flat pace. Only about .4 mile to go from here; hit the three mile split at 5:57/17:18 elapsed time. The kid won't catch me and I work to finish off at a decent pace. Last tenth = 33.4 sec for a 17:51 finish time.
Good enough for today. Remembered to hit the garmin at the finish line and reads 3.09 miles. Happy able to hold 5:40 pace through around 2.5 miles. Need to continue to work on lowering overall pace and extending the even 5K pace throughout the race. Keep working the distance/intervals, mile repeats. Eventually will get a cooler day for an assault on 17 flat. Busy racing schedule for the next month.