My goal was a 7:15 pace.

Matt and I started out together and went out way too hard. 6:43 was about 30 seconds faster than my target pace. If I hadn't actually seen that we went out that fast, my next two miles might have been better. I really didn't get into a good rhythm until mile 3 and then I realized that I would have to really get busy. From then on, I just focused on the pavement in front of me and tried to stay loose. Every time I checked my HR, I was in z4 which is right where I wanted to be. With two miles left, I knew that if I was going to make my goal, I'd have to push those two miles and eliminate any possibility of any real kick at the end. With 1 mile to go I passed a short dude in a grey shirt and figured he was in my AG. When I passed him, he picked up his pace and passed me back. I stayed with him until a taller guy passed us both. I got on tall guy's shoulder until 2 km to go and made my move. Neither of them was willing to go with, so I held my pace and turned up the hill into stadium. Heading up the hill, I was pretty gassed and that pre-puke feeling was lurking in my stomach. As soon as we got into the stadium, I checked for the two guys I passed. They were nowhere to be seen and I stayed right on the edge of puking until the finish.

I PR'd by 55 seconds but I could have run the first mile with more control. Had I kept that first mile closer to 7:00, I could have run a much more even race.

Short walk to the stands and stretched a bit.


Pace discipline.


I love the BolderBoulder!! I was really disappointed about their timing chip removal this year though. There were no volunteers around to do the removal and there was only 1 pair of wire cutters to be shared by hundreds of people trying to remove their timing chip.