Ran out of gas late, something I had a sense would happen if pressed at all. Turns out doing two half-marathons in a week isn't such a great idea after all. Although the Kenyans who ran at Manchester last weekend (and the women's winner there as well) would probably disagree, they all did a half in Monson. Of course, their times suffered as well. Disappointing and frustrating, as I should have known better. Took the opportunity to vent right after the race, the reporter got to me literally in the chute. I was chewing on bitterness at this particular moment, hence the self-absorbed pity party. Live and learn, as they say.
The course is definitely faster than Applefest or Manchester, as expected. Some exposed windy sections, esp. the last 3 miles, but an acceptable trade-off for a flatter layout. Nice layout on the whole. Got to the line with legs already feeling a bit heavy, decided from the outset to run tactically instead of leading and doing all the work. Still ended up driving the train for most of the first 5k, then settled in behind the eventual winner. Soon it was 3 of us clear of the rest of the field, then a move at 4 whittled it down to 2. I held on through the middle third of the race as the pace dropped, I had the feeling that it wasn't going to be sustainable and I was just building the gap over 3rd and consolidating my spot. Lost contact with the winner soon after 8 miles, and by 9 I was in no-man's land. The last 4 miles dragged on forever, once broken I immediately slowed to 5:40 and then slowed some more after that. Turned into the rapidly building wind for the last 5k, at which point my motivation completely evaporated. Plus my legs were dead, and the right one was getting sore, esp. on the knee. With no one in sight behind me I lolligagged it the last 2 miles at 6 minute pace and literally jogged the last 200 meters, just getting it over with. Right knee tight and sore afterwards, calves and hammies stiffened up alarmingly soon after finishing. It'll take a while to recover from the cumulative effect of these last two races. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things once the legs do finally come around.
Mile splits, good for a laugh at least:
5:34
5:37
5:38
5:35
5:21 covered a cheeky water-stop surge--let the racing begin
5:24 hanging with the leader as we pulled away from third
5:30
5:27
5:41 game over, unable to maintain the relatively modest pace
5:41 playing out the string from here on out
5:48 now into the wind, wishing it was already over
6:01
6:11 ugh
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