All in al, I am pleased with my performance today. I decided that this year I wasn't going to hold myself to real strict time goals and just do as good as I can on the day of each race... and I truly believe that I did the best I could possibly do today.

I was off from my 1/2 marathon PR by about 6 minutes, but oh well, on that day last year, the conditions were perfect. Today, the conditions were... less than perfect. I went out really really fast and I think I emptied the tank very early on especially with the strong wind at my back, I just kept pushing the pace, thinking I was banking some time, but I could not bank enough to deal with the winds I was hit with from mile 7-11. The wind was intense and directly into our faces. I tried staying behind some people to get the benefit of them blocking some of it out, but it didn't help as much as I had wished. My last five miles were very difficult (in the 10:XX range) and I think I sort of reverted back to my LSD paces from my long runs during marathon training. I kept thinking in my head, "ok, if I average 9:XX for the last 6 miles I can beat my pr of 1:57.57, but that just wasn't in the cards. I bumped into a volunteer at mile 8 and it was truly down hill from there.

Really? not too much I did the best I could and left nothing in the tank. I think I just really need to learn pacing and pace control. That's by far, my biggest problem. I started the race at 195lbs which is probably the lightest I have been for any race, triathlon or running.

Walked to the car


-Cold
-Wind
-It sounds silly, but I spent a lot of time running on the shoulders of the road for some reason. I was like, sort of running in a ditch.
-An Overzealous volunteer handing out water at mile 8
-Pacing is an issue and something I still have to learn. It is soooooo apparent to me that I really am still learning every day.


Overall, I am happy with today's race. I keep remembering that I have come such a long way. OK, I didn't PR, but I did get a COURSE PR (2:07.XX) in 2007. I keep coming back to the thought that every race I finish and every race I start is a victory.

I'm going to take it easy this week. I think I know my body and I think I need to lay off a bit. It's Spring break, so I am going to try to sleep a little late, do a bunch of yard work and stuff around the house. I'm going to swim tomorrow, do a couple of easy runs this week and maybe an 8 miler or so on Saturday.

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Big, big, big congrats to Bobby. He finished 4th in the division. He had a great race and is definitely in the best shape I have seen him in. I keep nominating him for BTer of the Month. Maybe this month he'll finally win.

Kudos also to Billy who had a great race and I think he said it was a PR. Great job!!