Of course the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm even at 9 AM. Saw a lot of familiar faces, some I haven't seen for a year, including 3/4s of my first half marathon clinic clique.
I had no idea how to pace this one, I had some idea of the numbers but no feel for it. I went out feeling like a slug for the first bit, but my first K split was 3:52. Settled in after that knowing I shouldn't press that hard or I would blow up. Fair headwind on the next K, then when we turned out of it it was hot. Middle of the race I slowly reigned in a couple of runners, I don't think anybody got by me after the first K. Next splits were 4:19, 4:15, 4:11. Windy again for the last part, and I started to fade: 4:23. My Garmin had me running 5.25 K, the last 1/4 was 3:48 pace, 4:11 avg it said. This race was criticized last year for being 200 M too short, so they added a loop at the start, maybe overcompensated a bit. People who were there said it took them 1:30 longer this year. My final time was 22:02. I was happy enough with that. I got a pair of socks for 3rd place in my age group. At first I figured that it was a bonus because of my new age, but I would have been 3rd even 40-49.
I did this mostly as a social thing, and a good workout. All in all it was a great day.
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