Awake at 3:50 and driving by 4:15. Talk about an early morning. Got pulled over in Weiser, going 48 in a 35 (thought it was 45) so that was a nice start to the morning. No ticket (first time pulled over in 20 years!) and we made it to the bus with no problem. On the bus at 6, to the starting line by 6:40 and we sit/waited outside until 8. Lame, but so it goes.
Ran nice and easy with Joe for the first 16 miles. First mile in 7:13 and miles 2-16 were all betwen 6:58 and 6:50. Just nice and steady throughout the first half. Chatting along and forgot to take any fuel until mile 9...which I think came back to bite me a bit--felt like I was chasing fuel from that point on and could never get ahead.
Dropped Joe and the next 5 miles were all between 6:28 and 6:34. I moved into 3rd and could see Danny in 2nd around mile 22. But then the pace dropped and I started to lose steam. Miles 27 (9:00), 28 (9:23) and 29 (8:51) were mixed with walking off and on as I was ready to be done. Thankfully some coca cola at the final aid station helped set me straight and I finished the last few miles in mid & low 8:00 pace.
Danny finished 2nd a couple minuted ahead of me and Joe 4th a couple minutes behind, so it was a good showing. All in all, I think it was a success; I didn't trash my legs and race to aggressively so I should be good to run next week and race again in May.
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