I didn't feel like I had a normal stride or any sort of rhythm until about mile 2.5 or 3.
Started 60 percent of the way back of the pack. Ran pretty hard up the first big hill and through the traffic. Lost everyone -- Paddy, Jeannie, Nancy and Robert -- but then found Paddy at mile 2. He pulled ahead at about 2.5 and by 3 he was starting to run away.
Pre-race goal was 37:20 and I would have been happy with 38:00. I set a PR by about five and a half minutes.

Start closer to the front of the pack. Do 3-5 minutes of light running with low heartrate before the race starts.
Wear my heartrate monitor (currently broken or on fritz.)

Light stretching for about 3 minutes then walked about. Drank two muscle milks with 20g of protein each, two small cookies and two clementines.


Mental limits. In hindsight, the goal wasn't aggressive enough. I knew that I was on track after two miles and after three miles. At that point I was trying to maintain. I would have been faster had I pushed harder early or if after two miles I thought I was 15 seconds too slow to make the goal.
All in all, given current fitness and that course, a perfect day may have produced a time of about 36:30.


Need more toilets. And, maybe station some of them near the parking/on th course because the parking is so far away from the start and finish.