Ankle felt sore but "ok" during the warmup so I decided to toe the line. Knowing a couple good hills were in front of me over the first 2 miles I decided to go out at a good but comfortable clip, making sure I was with the lead group if possible, go easy on the hills and work the rest. However, 100 yards after the start I found myself already in first.

The 22 yr old youngster who ran on my heels last week was behind me though a bit back. Not sure if he was just playing a more reserved strategy but my theory was first one through the hill section and onto the trail at around the 3 mile mark will win. You just lose sight of people on a winding trail and it's really hard to focus on someone in that situation. So I unexpectedly had the lead from the start, ran steady to the hills, easy up, hard down, kept the pace into the trails, and as I hit the 4 mile mark someone told me noone was in sight behind me. That was welcome news. So I eased off the gas just a bit the rest of the way and finished first. Considering I turn 40 next year, I'll take it. Please with the splits too, fairly consistent which is always a good sign: 5:40, 5:34, 5:43, 5:43, 2:51.

Ankle held up through the race which was good, and back to being sore now. Will start physical therapy later, which includes ice, advil and beer...

Nothing

2 mile cooldown


Nothing. Was happy out front so time was irrelevant in my opinion.