Wow, that was maybe the most unpleasant race I've ever run in.  I rode my bike to the start so I didn't have to deal with parking, which was good.  It was only a little more than 2 miles away and it was mostly downhill.  Got there in plenty of time to pick up my number, lock up my bike and get ready.  By 8:30 when I started my warmup it was easily 85 and high humidity.  I did my usual warmup, about two miles easy, followed by one long race pace stride, about 2 minutes.  I finished up with ten minutes until the start, and by then was just dripping sweat.  It was obvious that the weather would be a big factor today, the humidity up here is unreal.

The gun went off right on time and I settled in to what seemd like a reasonable pace.  I was probably in the top 20 somewhere, just about right, I knew some people would fade.  By the mile I think I was probably in 9th place, @ 5:32, too fast.  The next mile I settled down a bit and passed a few kids, at that point I was firmly in 7th place, @ 5:49.  Then the wheels came off.  During the last mile I had absolutely nothing left, I can't remember ever feeling so lifeless in the last mile of a 5K.  And then I got passed by two guys running side by side, I tried to stay with them but just had to let them go.  The last mile was something like 6:14 (with the last 1.1 in 6:51.)  So I came through the finish in 18:15 (this is about a minute off my pr), 9th overall and 1st in my age group.  After the race, I then had to ride my bike back up the hills back to my house, no easy feat.  I rode home quick to change into dry clothes and to let the dogs out, then I cruised back for the awards ceremony.  The winner ran 16:10!  Then I rode back up the hills to home again, quite a workout.

Not bad all things considered.  The weather could barely have been worse, and I'm basically still working off the training I did for the marathon, which is now five weeks ago.  (Total mileage run since the marathon, including today, 39 miles, thats less than half the mileage I ran in my peak weeks a few months ago.)  Sadly, I will have to accept that my race times may not be so great anymore, on limited mileage, only so much can be expected.  But now I have a new challenge to look forward to, school begins at 8:30am Monday morning!

 

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