Rockville 8k

Sat: 7/18/09
AM: 5 mile run (40:00)
Ran with the client I was coaching for the week on the canal trail in DC. Just ran slow and easy as a shakeout for the race tonight.

PM: 3 w/u, 8k race (24:51), 2 c/d (4:50, 4:55, 5:08, 5:12, 4:44)
Total = 10 miles
This race far exceeded my fitness expectations. The weather was absolutely perfect for the middle of July in DC. high 70's with little to no humidity and no wind. I was invited as an elite athlete and I was a little apprehensive to show up in the suite considering I thought breaking 26 would be a solid outing. Luckily, Melanie came along with me and having a beautiful girl attached to your arm justifies most things.

During the warm-up I contemplated race strategy with Melanie. Should I be smart and go out in 5:05-10, a pace I know I could handle? Or, do I bust out the first mile, stick my nose in it and see what happens. I had settled on the former and was ready to run a smart, even race...and then the gun went off. About 800 meters in the kenyans took to the lead and as I looked around, I could see no one else was gonna go with them. This pissed me off pretty good. I am tired of everyone thinking "oh, the kenyans are so good, blah blah blah. While I will admit they are rather talented, to let them take a race just because is senseless. So, I made the decision to run with them. We hit the first mile in 4:50 and I had to laugh at myself for knowing I was over my head. I slowed a bit and they picked it up and it was the end of the Mazango hanging with the Kenyans but I feel I proved my point. As we approached two miles I had to laugh inside because I knew that's where Melanie was and I had told her that if I came through faster than 10:10 shit was gonna hit the fan. When I split 9:45 I chuckled. The next mile is the one I lost focus on the most. I was starting to hurt and I let a guy come up on me as I slowed drastically. This was maybe the one fault I had in the race where I lost concentration a bit. The next mile was slow because it was uphill for the majority of the mile. Luckily, the guy in front of me was bigger than Ozzie right now and, although he was like a bowling ball on the downhill, I made up the 50m lead he had on me with somehwhat ease. The last mile was a ton of fun, tour de france style race. When I caught the guy at 4 I surged to see what he had left. He easily covered and made a move of his own. I stuck on the back wheel for about 200 meters and when he eased up I threw in a surge of my own. I opened a 5m gap and I knew if I wanted to win I had to break him now. Unfortunatly, I was pushing my fitness as it was and mentally I was talking myself down. He made up the gap at 1k to go, I hung strong until 800 meters. He looked at his watch, threw it down and I knew I was done. At this point I knew I was in the money and with no one behind I decided to ease it home, delighted with a sub 25min clocking. The last mile was so much fun to race and I had a great time overall. Great effort but, as I was telling Melanie after the race, this means I have to start working out harder. Shit