Sun 1/20 - PM just under an hour incl. 3k in 8:47.75

Not quite the effort I had in mind, based off of recent training and the mini-meet double 3 weeks ago I thought 8:45 was a given and 8:40 a strong possibility. While spending the morning and early afternoon at the kiddies' meet may not have been the best pre-race prep, I've done such things in the past and enjoyed better results. In the end, it boils down to not getting to bed early enough the past few nights, like it usually does. Although not nearly as pronounced a problem this time as it has been in the past.

Warmup and drills felt as good as I could have hoped, plus I got in a thorough and complete warmup with time to spare and so stepped to the line good and ready w/o feeling rushed or leaving things out. Concerned about how the right hammie would feel after how gummed up it was yesterday, but it was much better today, although some soreness in right adductor and hip flexors which has to be related. Getting splits on the Harvard 220y track is always tricky, esp. since the time clock was visible from the finish line but not the start line. Be that as it may, first 880y went by in around 2:21, mile in 4:43 or so. The guy I was following early slowed noticeably the fourth lap and I chose to pass him thinking I could maintain the effort, but it wasn't to be as I ended up sagging myself a few laps later and people started going by one by one. With my mojo at optimal levels I would have been able to keep up but not today, in fact keeping the pace below 72 became quite a chore. The next four laps were thus quite forgettable, and the numbers get a bit fuzzy at this point, but I hit the finish line (not the start line) with three laps to go in around 7:04. Two to go was just under 7:40, lap to go was 8:14 or so, ergo last lap 33ish. Made it a point to bear down and focus the last three laps and succeeded in doing so, an odd combo with the flatness. Saved a little something for the last lap, which in hindsight I probably could have stretched out over the last two laps instead but after sagging earlier I was worried about blowing up.

This race forces me to scale back on the ambitions for the 5k next weekend, although I'm convinced I'll be able to put a better foot forward if I get more rest leading up to it. Hopefully not too big an if.