4 mile warm up before the race. Felt fine and weather was perfect. 44 degrees, no wind, cloudy, a touch humid from the rain last night. Start was much smoother than last year--no double gun/cannon chaos. First mile in 5:11 and I'm sharing the lead with Max King, Tyler Davis and a couple other runners from out of town. Second mile in 5:13 so just a touch off pace but still much better than last year. Still in a pack of 5 for the lead. Max is clearly toying with us (the guy was 19th at the Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston {2:14:36} and wins EVERYTHING from 5k to 100K, mostly on trails). The last 2 years he's long gone by this point in the race... Mile 3 Max and one of the out-of-towners create a small gap between Tyler and I as we run a 5:16. Start to get a cramp in my gut but nothing major. Mile 4 in 5:20 (Handly Hill) and mile 5 in 5:12 (down the other side of HH). My cramp is gone by now and at the turn around I move 1-2 seconds ahead of Tyler--no real seperation but it's something. I'm 14 seconds off my goal (was hoping for sub-26 at the 5 mile mark so I try to tell myself to run a negative split on the return and all is well. Doesn't happen. Mile 6 in 5:31, my slowest of the day and slowest mile ever on the course. Last year it was 5:21. What's the deal?! Mile 7 in 5:24 and mile 8 in 5:19. Just don't have 'it' today. Keep telling myself to go faster and nothing happens. Just like last year. This year I just try to keep rolling and not get discouraged. Mile 9 in 5:22 (Tyler had drifted back some but I can tell from the cheers, he's closing in on me). I try and push the final mile. Last year I did a 5 flat. Today? 5:10. That sums up the day, really. Every mile was about 10 seconds slower than I wanted/felt like I was capable of. Finishing time of 53:02, 50 seconds slower than last year. Max won, but not in 49:10 like last year. He ran a 51:23 and 2nd place ran 51:38, right where I wanted to be. Why couldn't I hang with them? I wanted to average 5:10 for the race. Didn't happen. Not even close. Frustrating how I could feel so amazing 5 weeks ago at the Linfield 10k and then today feel so flat. I've got to reconsider future plans because I don't think I'm going to last until Newport in June, both physically and mentally. Who knows. Maybe just a bad day.
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