This was my longest running race ever so I had no idea what to expect. Running is definitely not my strength and in the past I have had a tendency to take running races out to fast and fade. I was determined to pace this race better and my strategy was to take the race out easy, negative split it and go under 1:10.

Lined up in the middle of the yellow jerseys (they seed the first 400 runners and then break everyone else up into group's of 2000, I was in the first group of 2000 based upon my seed time) and was off at the start of the race. I thought with a race this size there would be a lot of crowding but it opened up and I had no issues at all.

Held back my pace at the beginning and was just enjoying the scenery the first 3 miles. I was a little nervous as my pace was :10 faster than I planned but my HR was in check and I felt good so I went with it. At mile three I looked over and saw Dave Orton, a good friend and my competition in my AG in all the tri's I do. Dave and I ran together for the next 2 miles. At mile 5 I was still feeling really good, probably too good so I decided to pick up the pace an extra 5-10 seconds per mile. At the 10K, I realized I had just PR'd by 35 seconds so I knew I was having a good race and the training really was going to pay off.

Mile 6, 7 and 8 I was still feeling really really good felt like I could keep this pace up for a lot longer than 10 miles if I needed too. I kept waiting to fall apart but it was just not happening. At mile 9 I decided to blast it - pushed the pace up, climbed the only small hill on the course and then pushed through to the end. By the last few hundred yards my HR was in the upper 180's and I was hurting. Crossed the finish line, caught up with Dave, Nate, Kevin and a bunch of the other local triathletes.

I probably should have pushed a little harded a little sooner. I ended up negatively splitting the race by about 35 seconds, which I think is a little too much.

Walked around, talked with Ally, caught up with Scott, Brad, Ernie and few other BTers. Then about 20 of the local BT crew headed out to get some food and drinks. :)


Came off the couch 1 year ago to start triathlons - I need more experience/training.