Run was split into 2, 1st half going mostly as planned 2nd half falling a part. My goal was to try and reach a 7:50 pace and see how long I could hold that, with all of the traffic I had no luck reaching this. Spent a lot of energy just weaving in and around people to hold a 8m pace. During this time I was trying to find someone to run with but it seems everyone was either much faster or going to slow. So I was on my own! During 1st couple of miles I experienced some discomfort in my right knee, wasn't painful but stiff. Area below my knee cap was biggest concern, monitored this for a short time and after awhile it released and went away!

. During miles 3-7 everything went as expected and uneventful. Only issue during this time was my HR, seemed to hold steady at 170. I thought this was extremely high but my perceived effort did not match the HR. So i just monitored the HR after this and would push it down to 165 occasionally during some slower times

At mile 7 was where things started to get rough, I noticed my effort was going through the roof to maintain pace, thought at 1st it was just fatigue but after .5 mile of struggling I realized the grade had changed and I was actually running up a hill. Obviously nothing steep but a little long and since I wasn't paying attention it did put me in somewhat of a hole. I should have pulled back the effort to go up the grade.

Around mile 8 started my drinking problems. I have yet to learn how to drink from a cup while running, but I knew I needed to get at least water in me. So at this point during the water stations I I would walk to make sure I stayed hydrated. I didn't walk long enough to lose much time but I did lose momentum, each time I slowed it became more and more difficult to get back to pace. This strategy really bit me during miles 11 and 12.

Mile 9 was all about keeping pace to prepare for the last 5k. Once I reached mile 10 I attempted to pick up the pace to finish strong, unfortunately I had nothing left. When I would get to a food pace my exertion would be going through the roof and I just couldn't sustain. A few times during this I pushed my self into heavy breathing and would have to walk. Around mile 12.1 was probably the worst of this.

. At mile 13 I finished the race :)! Even with the struggles I had, this race went fairly well. I may have overestimated my goal but you have to set them somewhere! This race will be a very good learning experience for me, 1st learn to drink and run at the same time! 2nd I need to get some kind of compression sleeve for my legs. After mile 9 I could feel all of the lactic acid and other junk just building up in my calves. This has become a staple of my longer runs and I believe the sleaves may help with that. If anything it cant hurt.

Data is avg Pac/Avg HR
Mile 1: 8:13/165
Mile 2: 7:54/165
Mile 3: 7:59/163
Mile 4: 7:53/170
Mile 5: 7:53/170
Mile 6: 7:50/170
Mile 7: 8:20/170
Mile 8: 8:25/168
Mile 9: 8:01/171
Mile 10:8:18/168
Mile 11:8:18/169
Mile 12:8:31/169
Mile 13:8:20/167
Last 0.1: 7:16/175

I enjoyed this race, I put everything I had into completing it under my goal time. Just not to that level yet! I do feel I left everything out on the course, and specifically around mile 10 or 11. Looking at the pace data I was surprised to see how long I managed to hold close to 7:50 pace, I didnt think I was close to it. Now time to put more miles in and get over that (Or under) the 1:45 wall.