Hmm, after finishing it said I was 5th overall but pulling results today shows I was 6th OA. Must have been a timing issue with one of the top 5.

Moving into this race I really didn't know what to expect. I had planned and hoped to shoot for a sub 1:20 but really didn't have any specific race prep in place other than a lot of volume and some limited 5k work. (see my 5k race report for that fiasco). Anyway, I decided, like that 5k, that it was go for broke and hatched a plan to run the downhills around 5:55 pace and give myself some wiggle room up to 6:05 for the flats.

Off the gun I felt really freaking good and went out near 5:40 for a short stint before pulling it back to 5:55. I was on the tail end of a pack of about 8 with the front two pulling away slowly. After the first mile I was settled on my pace and the main pack I was with began to pull off as well; no worries, let them go and run my own race. Everything was clicking and it seemed like the 1 mile auto lap was chiming before I even knew it.

Mile 2 passed and then mile 3 came and went at a tick under 18 minutes. This is where I questioned whether or not I could sustain this pace but I felt great so I agreed to just see what would happen. Four, five, six and everything was good! Around mile 3 I started pulling back up to a few of that pack I was part of. Passed one guy around 3.5, another around 4.5 and by 6 I was pulling up next to someone else. We ran together for the next mile and a half or so before I put a bit of a surge in and dropped him, sights set on the next victim.

It should be said that my sights were firmly set on the guy that eventually finished in 5th overall. We started side by side and he went out and away while I was sitting in on that initial pack of runners. By mile 8 I had passed the last guy between him and I and was ever so slightly reeling him in, maybe a few seconds a mile at best. By mile 9 we were off the main road (Oracle) and turning to run the side streets through the communities and I knew that hill (or those hills) were looming just up the road. Made a left, saw him roughly 25 yards in front of me and saw that hill.

I remember thinking "dang, that HILL again" and then suddenly thinking "you know, it's really not that bad of a hill" and I chugged my way up it, pace dropping to mid 6s as we climbed. Crested the top and was rewarded with a fast and painful descent but I was starting to pull the guy in front of me! Hit another slight rise coming into mile 11 and I was 8 feet off his heels, over his right shoulder. He gave a look and noticed me and next thing I know he was PICKING IT UP! Dang, this pass wasn't going to come easy.

We ran lock step for the next mile but just as we crossed mile 12 I started to reel him again and by 12.2 I was shoulder to shoulder. Just as I was expecting to pull ahead of him he found a gear that I couldn't match and he was off the front. By 12.5 he was out of reach and I admitted I couldn't catch him now so just kept it dialed onto my 5:55 and ran it in.

I wasn't sure exactly where I was timing wise but knew I was definitely sub 1:20. (funny enough, at mile 8 I KNEW I had my 1:19 finish and even told myself out loud I did) Looking back, I kind of wish I would have paid a little closer attention to exactly where I was running as I might have been able to give sub 1:18 a go, or it would have blown up.

Not a single thing. I executed that race perfectly from start to finish.

nothing


Not much.