And The Winner Is.......

Not Me.

Great day for a race. Temperature at start time was about 60, slight breeze, overcast. I woke a couple of hours before the race, had some Fiber One and was on my way. I brought GU along of course, had one about 45 minutes before the start, another one 15 minutes before the gun and was ready to go.

I have never run this distance before, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I ran the Turkey Trot (8K) and did about a 9:40 or so mile. I felt as though I definately could do better than this. My best 5K was at about a 8:05 pace, so I settled for 9:15. During training, each split is usually slower than the last. In all the reading I have done, I noticed that I should be doing negative splits, so that was my other goal for the race. The first number was my goal the second my actual.

Mile 1: 9:25/9:19
Mile 2: 9:20/9:24
Mile 3: 9:15/9:11
Mile 4: 9:10/9:04
Mile 5: 9:05/8:57
Mile 6: 9:00/8:41
Last .2: 7:10 pace

Other than mile 2, I was successful at achieving this. What was more pleasing, was people that passed me in the first mile or so, I began passing at mile 3. That got me even more pumped and may have contributed to lower splits than I had planned for. Is it evil that I enjoy running past people, especially ones that look much more fit than I do?

Nice shirt from the race sponsor as well. Good job.