I arrived at 745 for the 9am start, it was a bit chilly 15 when I got there. The projected forecast was for 22-24 at the start. Shortly after 8am I hoped out for a warm up with Kevin and Rich, we decided to stay off the course an venture some different roads. Picking what to race in was a crap shoot, ended up with hat gloves and a long sleeve. Was out the door about 10mins to the start for some strides and light drills.
9:02 we were off the line, had a few stragglers getting to the line. The first 1/2m is a slight down hill, I found myself just right on the back of the lead pack and decided to hang on for the ride over the first mile. Shortly before the mile I let off the pack knowing the pace was a bit hot for me. Shaun caught up to me and we chatted about me taking off with the leaders (first time Shaun's seen me do this since my first summer in NY) hit the 1st mile 5:17.
Early in the 2nd mile Rich came by I knew we were looking for similar times I latched on and keep my focus on him to pull me through. I stuck behind Rich for the next couple miles, at this point I was running in 8th place. Right before the 4m mark Eamon pulled up next to me giving me some words of wisdom "only 6 mins of hurting left" I tried to move with the group but they were seeming to gap me. We hit 4m in 22:10, after another quater mile they were beginning to gap me. I heard a few guys behind me and was able to change gears (a little late) but felt the legs winding up. I held on to my spot (11th place) and secured a new PR 27:45 for the roads. I was very happy but at the same time knew I had some extra gears just couldn't get them out today.
I'm sure you can say I cost myself sometime in that first mile but hell I haven't run a PR in 4 years! The confidence to get out an pull people in wasn't quite there. After today I feel much better about how my trainjng is going and look forward to the next race and workouts.
Some pictures from after the race with my fan club! And from crushing the kids race with KP!
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