1st 2 miles were ok, although slower than I wanted. I can attribute that to the soft spongy running surface & the long hill at the start, repeated in figure 8, & maybe also to fatique (?). HR was within target range, although it shot up to zone 4 pretty quickly on the early hill. Not unhappy, though; passed 2 runners & had 2 more behind me.
Then I stupidly went off course, started doing the second figure 8 wrong, had to run up the hill an extra time. This really messed up my focus & strategy; I wasn't sure how far I'd actually be running, what would be too early to ramp up. Not happy with 2nd part of the race; only ran an extra .15 miles, but had no way of recalculating on the fly.

Acknowledge that learning the course is an important part of the race, and not my strong suit. During the warm up really focus on the turns & intersections and where the flags might be ambiguous.

Recoverite & half recovery bar; pb bagel && banana.
Abbreviated rolling & stretching as the guys wanted to hit the road.


I've learned this: my mind can become confused during a race and fails to think. I really knew where the route went, but saw runners down on the lower part of the loop and headed there. I have been mentally lazy, counting on there being someone visibly in front of me, but there isn't always. It's not the first time it has happened.