Thanksgiving Day Race

Time: 51:33
Distance: 8-9 miles
Race Time: 31:38 for 10k

Woke up around 5 am to get a bit of a shakeout run on the treadmill downstairs. Ran for 15 minutes.

Drove down to the start of the race in Cincinnati with Dave, Stuart and Tim. We arrived at about 8:15 am and I immediately started my w/u of 19:55. It was really cold and a bit drizzly at the start of the race. I had a hard time getting warm and would have worn a long sleeve shirt under my jersey if I had a tighter fitting one. I made my way over to the start line and ran a stride or two to stay warm. There was a good turn out this year and I was hoping to go out with the leaders and make a move at about 4 miles.

The race headed out at a pretty quick pace. I'm not sure what our split was through the mile but I came through the 2 mile mark just behind two other guys in 9:43. At that point Chris Reis made a little move to the front and took off. He opened a 10 meter gap which I didn't cover going over the first bridge. I ran with the other guy until mile 3 which we hit in 14:50 (5:07 split). By the 5k Reis had the race won and I wasn't feeling great. We were heading into a wind and I was starting to get cold. I came through 4 miles in 20:06 (5:15 split) and things continued to get worse. Since I was running alone in second I started backing off as I wasn't feeling great going up the inclines on the bridges. Mile 4-5 was definitely the toughest as I hit 5 miles in 25:29 (5:23) and 6 miles in 30:35 (5:06). I finished in 31:38 finishing in second by a distance. At 6 miles a group of guys was running me down but I had a lot left and ran well the final 400m. I was just terribly cold at this time and didn't really cool down before grabbing snacks and jumping in a warm car.

Overall the race was a disappointment. I really thought I could go closer to 30 minutes. I want to run the first 10k of the half in about the time I ran today. Not a good sign but hopefully just an off day. Perhaps a little tired from the travel, hard effort on Sat., or the "swing lube" (Mich Ultra's).

Owen ran a good race out on the east coast. My coach Tom finished an embarrassing 5th and lost to his brother George. The guy who outleaned George for $50 and third place tried to run out in Oregon for Team Eugene. I think he stayed for 2 weeks before the hippies drove him off.