I did 4 miles under 24 minutes as part of a duathlon a couple weeks ago, so I thought 6:00/mile was a reasonable goal for this race. The course was flat, except for a downhill at the start, a hill at the halfway point, and a long uphill finish.

Somehow I could only do the first mile under 6:00. I don't know why. I felt fine, but I just wasn't very fast. Maybe it's because I've been sleep deprived for a few weeks. So, my goal when out the window pretty quickly.

In the second half I tried to push harder and it was at least tactically interesting. I caught some guy and we alternated the lead for a couple miles until he finally broke. Meanwhile 4 or 5 other runners from behind were clumping up and forming a pack to come get us. They arrived behind me at about the 5 mile mark. I could hear them, but I didn't know how many were there and I didn't want to look. I could just tell they were all going to outsprint me at the end though. I stayed ahead of them until the 6-mile mark, and then on the finishing uphill they all moved past me at once, just as I had feared. Fortunately I was able to push and get back ahead of most of them again. One guy did outsprint me at the end, but I held the others off. Actually I think it's because of the uphill--they probably all would have beaten me if it were flat. So I got lucky.

Mile 1: 5:56
Mile 2: 6:17
Mile 3: 6:22
Mile 4: 6:15
Mile 5: 6:20
Mile 6 (plus 0.2): 7:47

If I moved earlier near the end I could have kept everyone from passing me. Since I was listening to the people behind me I wasn't concentrating on the course. One moment I was 1:30 into the final mile, and the next moment my watch said 6:30. So, next time I'll have to be more diligent.

I stretched a little bit but didn't do a very serious cooldown.


Maybe I'm too fat.


Cleveland does a good job. There were awesome post-race refreshments, and a pretty good band. The 10K course is very fast, so it's a good place for someone to try to set a PR.