Lined up about 6 rows back as it is tight to get everyone through the timing mats and onto the bridge for the start. At the gun I had to filter through a bunch of people who had no business being in front, but it was not that big of an issue as I am used to that in larger races and I knew I wasn't going to be in overall contention (or AG in this race).

Settled in, tried to go as well as I could, but the legs weren't there compared to other years. After about 3/4's of a mile I knew this race was going to hurt. First mile clicked off at 6:08, which was down on usual split, but not bad. Second mile hurt even more and I was thinking that I was going to be steadily losing spots for the rest of the race - clicked off at 6:23, a solid second mile and right in line with what I should do for a properly paced race. But at the turn around things were settling down only one more guy passed me and I stayed with him the rest of the race.

Mile 3 was decent with a 6:24, the guy who passed me and I caught one runner and left him. Then around the lake we caught and passed another. Mile 4 came at 6:24 and I was feeling better than I did at 2, so tried to pick it up and catch the guy who passed me. Never did, but gapped the one or two behind us. Last portion of the last mile is downhill so pushed it to try and catch him, but he had a sizable gap that I couldn't bridge. Final mile was a 6:10.

Not a great time for me overall, but a very well run and paced race with what I had in me that day. Can't complain from a strategic standpoint. Faster paced opening mile, even split for 2/3/4 and faster last mile. Surprised by that as it is pretty much the prototype of a good race (course dependent).

Train more. No speedwork since about March or so. Definitely lost a few steps in my pace since then. But based on my 5k a few weeks ago, this is about what I would be expected to run. Otherwise this run was textbook for the distance.

Turned in my chip and went back to the finish to watch for everyone I knew. Saw Traci cross with a new PR, saw Slake and Shelly from here on BT and the two guys from my office cross. Cheered on everyone then grabbed my stuff from the bag check and headed home as I have never placed at this race because of the deep field.


Training as mentioned already. End of season as well so motivation has not been as high.


4th year running this, but this was my 3rd best time of the 4. Ran it a minute faster last year and 20 seconds faster 2 years ago. Lack of any real mileage and speedwork showed. It continues to be a great race with the best prime for registering which is why so many sign up for it.

Now ..... there were some issues with the timing chips. About 100 people did not have starting times even though they crossed. So there was a mess up in the standings. It actually has me as 3rd in my AG! But I know for sure that there were 2 fellow HC Striders that are in my AG that were ahead of me. When you look at their times, it only shows the actual time they crossed the finish line. When you compare that to mine, they were 3 - 4 minutes before me. That is why I placed myself in 5th in the AG and around 45th overall - even though preliminary results say 3rd in AG and 37th overall. We'll see how things pan out. Even though I was slower, that would be the best AG and overall placings for the event in the 4 years.