Well, things went much better than expected today. The only disappointment I have is that I think the course was short by almost .2 miles so my adjusted time for the course would have been somewhere around 1:38....oh well whatcha gonna do??
I decided to start the race in the middle of the pack this year just so I was forced to hold back a little and not go sprinting out like I tend to do some times. I was very pleased with my first mile as it came in right at my goal pace of 7:30. My splits were all very even through most of the race except for a couple of miles that included some nice hills and steady inclines but my slowest mile was only 7:52 which included the steepest (but not very long) hill. I felt very strong through most of the course but was a little gun shy to push the pace much beyond my goal for fear of overdoing it and then fading at the end. My desire to hold back and stay with my game plan seemed to work well as I finished feeling strong and with a time that was right where I wanted it to be. It's not a PR but for this course it is a 20 minute improvement over last year for me. To run this pace on what I consider to be a very "honost" course I have gained more confidence in my ability to BQ this year if I can stay healthy and continue to improve my training.
Meg dropped out of the half to run the 5K with our son Cory and she finished in 22:22 which is a PR and good enought to take 5th overall and 2nd in her age group. She earned a nice piece of hardware for her efforts (a baseball size diamond shaped trophy with all the info engraved on it).
Time: 7:30/mile | 