The Issaquah Rotary Run was a great race. It was perfect for jumping back into racing. The course was relatively flat, well marked and lots of spectators. It was also a pretty small race (but lots of fast people!), so I didn't feel lost in a crowd. It was also great racing with the team. I truly miss the comradery. I'm in the upper left -- and the only guy without a red team jersey yet. I will at the Seattle Half though!
I met all of my objectives and felt hungary for more. I'm definitely ready to start training hard but consistently. It's good to know that I can set difficult but achievable goals. Given that today was my first race in 7 years, all I wanted to do was work on keeping a decent pace. I kept telling myself for the past week 6mm's for first five and then go from there. Actually, this objective was the only one I didn't achieve. :) I ended up running a 5:45 for my first mile. My legs felt like lead but I guess that was lactic acid building up. :( That spooked me pretty bad and I slowed down considerably on the second mile. (12:15 split). The rest of the run went considerably better. I picked it up on the third mile, though it was slightly uphill (18:09) and then picked it up again on the fourth (23:49) and fifth miles (30:04). I don't know what my split was for the final mile but I kicked it in for a 37:16 (Race Time) and 37:14 (Split Time). The best part of all is that I negative splitted (again, not sure about the six mile split, but I certainly can't run 0.2 in 55 seconds).
As for the competition, it seemed like there were some really fast folks -- and that sense was totally accurate! Wow, they went out hard!! By the time I hit the one mile marker, they must have been 30-40 seconds ahead of me. The only time I got passed was on the second mile when I got spooked. I think two guys passed me. I passed one of those guys at the fifth mile. I also passed three or four more guys through miles 4-6.2 (I kicked past one guy at the end). There was one gal who just couldn't be caught. I ran with her through the first mile, lost her on the second mile and couldn't gain enough ground to pass her in the end. Oh well, I gotta be careful of that second/third mile let down!! My place was 24th and AG was 4/41. I guess that's not bad, but it doesn't really matter at this point, since I'm focused on pacing and fitness testing.
Speaking of which, I was supposed to wear my heart monitor but totally forgot about it. Jill scolded me (as she should), and wants me to do the Seattle Half...yeah!! Maybe I'll see a top-20 next month? She also said that I'll be able to do several tempo runs while waiting for my wrist to heal. Luckily (or maybe not?), my wrist is getting a lot better. I might be in the water the end of this week!
