I went out comfortably but somehow was immediately in the lead. Then a high school runner and a 20-something guy came by on the first hill. The 20-something seemed like he was working pretty hard, so I figured he would fall back -- he surprised me by not really falling back. The high school kid seemed comfortable. Anyway, I originally had it in mind to keep the effort comfortable and not really hard, but then being in the top three right off the bat caused the competitive juices to kick in, and I tucked in behind them. They seemed to be stronger on the uphills (or at least they took them harder) and I was apparently quicker on the downhills. I noticed from mile 2 to the turnaround that we were going mostly up, so I just hung on and planned to gap them after the turnaround. I frankly didn't expect that plan to work, but I knew that mile 6 is a horrendous climb, and I certainly didn't want to get into a footrace on that. So getting the early gap was really the only way.

Anyway, I did manage to get the gap -- I heard an audible sigh as the elastic broke and knew, then, that I was on my own. (Actually, it turned out that 4th place matched my move and ended up passing the two early leaders as well to finish second.) This is my second time being at the front of a race with the lead car, and I have to say that the feeling is just fantastic. Very motivating. So I really pushed hard up that last ridiculous hill -- more like stairs than a road. I passed Misty and then the boys, who were doing the 5K, and then, excited about the win, I really went quick around the lake to the finish. My stomach was in full revolt, however, and almost immediately I threw up into a trash can. I had just enough time to 'tidy up' before watching the boys, then Misty, then Muireall, finish the 5K. They really got into the spirit and pushed it, and I'm very proud of them. Fun times.

The last mile of this race is pretty epic. We were on ~6:10/mile until then!

Apparently going 'easy' at a race is just psychologically impossible for me. So next time, if I intend to go easy, I'd be better off just not racing.

Stretching, jogging.