Even though I started close to the front, the first 500m were very cramped and had to do a lot of weaving to get around people and had some trouble getting around people because of the amount of people, I figured starting close to the front I would avoid this, but obviously some slower people decide to start at the front for some reason!

After getting through all the people and we were all spread up a bit more I felt pretty good and crossed the 1km mark in about 4:01 which is right about where I wanted to be for the first kilometer, I slowed down just a tad to a pace I thought I could keep up for the rest of the race. I did a lot of passing and only a handful of people passed me so I was feeling good. I finished the first 2.5k loop in about 10:10 and realized if I keep this up I'll be in the 20's! The start of the 2nd loop I felt great, getting a bit tired and my breathing was a bit heavier but still felt good. Around the 3k mark I started feeling pretty tired and wasn't sure if I could keep it up for the next 2k so I would just pick people in front of me and catch up to them and run with them then move on to someone else and just kept going to the 4k mark where I pretty much just gave all I had left even though I felt like I was about to die. With about 500m's left I caught up to a guy and ran for a few seconds with him and he started to slow down, I said "come on buddy lets do this" and we both basically sprinted side by side to the finish line. I sped even more at the very end and passed him before the finsih line. where I saw 20:25 and was very excited!

I think over-all I did better then I expected and was very happy with my time. My time in this same race last year was 23:23 so I almost cut 3 minutes off my time. I think if it was warmer out and did more of my runs leading up to the run outside I may have done even better and I would have stretched a little more, but over all it was an almost perfect race.

after I finished I thought I was gonna die, It was seriously the hardest I have ever run and it felt like it too. after a couple minutes catching my breath I was fine and got something to drink and a banana, and just kept walking around waiting for my friends to finish.


the cold and genetics


great race, well organized, great race kit with bag and long sleeve technical shirt which I really needed. lots of food and drinks before and after race. The only thing I wish they would have done is told people to line up at the start according to thier skill level or projected time. With almost 500 people running on half a lane of road it's pretty crowded.