The cherry-picking tour hit a speed bump today, as the second annual edition of this race was far, far more competitive than the first. I figured it would be a stronger field but not as strong as it was, I knew standing on the line that I had zero chance at a money spot. Given all the investment in time and money I had already put into this event, I went through with it anyway hoping for some decent age-group merch (as it turned out, a shiny medal). The course rolled relentlessly with the exception of miles 10 and 11. Ran smoothly enough the first five gradually uphill miles, including the first 3.5 with the lead pack to get some protection from the wind which was more than a little pesky. Hit a rough patch on the downhill sixth mile where motivation flagged as the lead pack started racing in earnest and left me in no-man's land, but recouped focus from there on out. Kept clicking off 5:40 miles despite my legs feeling like they had no juice left in them. Splits as follows:
5:14 downhill, probably short
5:39
5:34
5:32
5:39
5:34 downhill
5:45 uphill
5:39
5:42 up then down
5:40
5:39
5:47 nasty hill that nearly put me under
5:21 downhill then flat
the overall time was exactly the same as Applefest a month ago. Nothing if not consistent. Hard to say if this course was any harder than that one, but the wind was more of a factor today. On the plus side, right leg held up fine and finished not even feeling that sore considering all the ups and downs on the course. How this effort affects next week's half-marathon remains to be seen, seven days to recover is obviously pushing it.
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2 comments:
Nice race Mark. Same boat here where a bunch of us went there for easy money and...well...I guess we should have run the full!
I wouldn't go that far, literally. From what I can tell there were more hills in the second half of the marathon course. "Easy money" is a relative term at best. The Kenyans who went 1-2 in the half were the only ones who could make that claim. They did only what was necessary to win--Kitur ran an 8k the day before.
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