Ran pretty easy 1st 5mi. Decided if I was still doing ~9min pace @ mile 7 I would push it. Felt pretty decent then so upped it to ~8:35 pace. Around mile 10 my R hammie felt like it might cramp so I backed off slightly. Last 2+mi I pushed a little to ~8:20 pace. Interestingly the course's last mile or so was run parallel to the USATF 8k championship course. The elites were on their home stretch as I was running my last mile. It was strangely demoralizing to be struggling to bring it home while these elites were flying by. Lost my concentration- and my hat which cost me a few sec to retrieve. Finished strong down the chute, but with the feeling that R hammie could lock at any second.

Maybe push a bit harder in 1st half??? Overall I think I got most of what was in the legs today.

Got post-race leg massage.Walked around venue a bit.
Rode bike home.


No real taper. Did not plan to PR so paced conservatively. That R hamstring threatening to cramp put a lid on my last 5k.


Not bad for a 1st time event of ~5,000 total runners (full, HM,& 8k). Too few police & volunteers in spots. At least 2 water stations had just 1 very busy volunteer, and some intersections had no police while others had 2 officers. Kudos for plenty of port-a-lets. Farmer's Market (early) & bands (later) at finish were good post-race diversions.