Not quite the raceI wanted, but you can't run a PR everyday. Slower than last years time by 19 seconds. I'll write more later. I ran 2 miles for a warm up, from my house to the park. Perfect morning for a race, just like last year. It rained during the night so humidity was high, but it couldn't have been colder than 45 degrees. Prior to my race there was a kids costume run which Ryan participated in--his first 'race.' It was roughly 800 meters and Ryan killed it. He ran the entire time and passed a ton of kids twice his size that had to walk every 10 yards. Similar to last year, there wasn't a ton of competition although just before the start I saw Tyler (Phoenix, Linnfield College) who is a very talented runner who's getting better with each race, especially with the longer distances. I took the lead from the start with Tyler and a 10k guy right on my heals. We hit mile 1 in 5:26 (about 10 seconds slower than last year?) and by then, we were running along side each other. Mile 2 in 5:26 and mile 3 in 5:24. I just was't feeling bad, but just not great. Kinda in a funk without that racing 'edge' that often comes on race day. Who knows. Mile 2-4 I found myself in 3rd place (although 2nd place was a 10k runner) and as we came through mile 4 in 5:27, I was behind Tyler by about 10 seconds. We passed the starting line and headed out into the country. From this point on, this race is one of the absolute best I've run. Flat and straight--SO easy to get into a groove and hit cruise control. I took off 5 seconds of Tyler's lead in mile 5 (5:24) and by mile 6 (5:31) I had caught him. We ran mile 7 (5:28) and 8 (5:30) together, talking too much about future races and who knows what. I knew I wasn't hitting the splits I needed so I said my goodbyes and tried to pick up the pace for the final 5+ miles. Mile 9 (5:22) was exactly what I wanted but then I hit the one big hill on mile 10 and it took a little too much effort. I missed the split but it was 11:00 for the next mile so 5:30 average... Mile 12 was 5:25 so I was holding together better than last year, although that was to be expected with the slower first few miles. I wasn't bonking like last year so that was a plus. Maybe I finally got my breakfast combo down to what works for me (oatmeal, banana 2 hours prior). Mile 13 in 5:15 and final .1 in 19 seconds. Anyway, all in all, not a bad race but I just feel like I missed a good opportunity to hit a PR. The course, time of year, weather, fitness off a marathon, everything seems like a perfect chance to set a PR. Not sure why I didn't have the race edge. Seems like the last two races have been a bit of a bummer (Logan and today). Running just isn't doing it for me at the moment and it's an increasing struggle to get up in the morning in the dark/cold. Busy with work, 3 kids (one a newborn), church responsibilities....lots going on at the moment. But that's the rough part--life is only going to get more hectic as kids grow, work responsibility increases, etc. It's called life. I get it. I just want to hit the goal times listed on the left (sub 2:30, sub 1:10 on an honest course) and it feels like the window is closing on the opportunity. And maybe that's not a bad thing... I've been competitive with this running thing since 1996 so I suppose it can't go on forever. 2 mile cool down as I ran home. I won a pair of shoes and the race shirt is BRIGHT orange so that's cool. And with that, this novel is finished!
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