From the past couple years times, thought I had a shot at top 10, so started near the front. Placed myself in the top 50 or so because of the 5k and I build throughout instead of exploding off the line like everyone else does. And sure enough, they did it here too. I was seeing 5:45 and not passing anyone right away, so knew it would come soon. I had wanted to break 6:00/mile in this, and was hoping things would loosen up in the first mile (since they hadn't in the warm-up).

Made my way through all the people who shot themselves in the foot right away and kept on the effort. I didn't know specifics of the course, but there is nothing around here that is really hilly, so no reason to worry about anything. Pulled off a 6:03 for the first mile which seemed ok. Hoped to pick it up, but felt the legs burning already. Too much for this early in the race. I've done this or better in a few 5k's recently without hitting threshold HR at any point, so had hoped to stretched it out to 5 miles.

Somewhere in here, the wind made itself known as well. 20+ mph hitting us in some spots. I made my way around the small loop the 5k runners had to do as well. Some small, shallow inclines, but able to hold pace up them easily enough. The hill work is really helping as others had to drop off, in spite being much lighter than I am.

Coming out of the loop, pretty sure the volunteer directing things was Andrew Starykowicz. Right size, looked just like him, and carried a lot of confidence in himself. He does live in the immediate area. I had seen him around beforehand, but didn't want to bother as he was busy getting things ready. Can't say anything at this point of the race as I'd likely end up spitting on him instead.

End of the loop is the 5k/8k split, and saw a lot of people turning right to go back. Good news for me, as I was doing ok place-wise even though I was going slower. Made the turn left and just hit a wall of wind. My Garmin went all the way from near ~6:00 to just over 7:00. I could see a few guys up in the distance struggling as well, so it helped to know it wasn't just me. Kept my HR as steady as possible since pace was way off at this point. 6:19 & 6:24 splits going through here and around the far loop.

Caught up to the other guys ahead by the end of the last loop and turned on to the homestretch straight away, almost a mile long. Finally had the wind behind, but my leg turnover wasn't there to take full advantage. Too shot coming in and burning up from having pushed on the previous 4 miles. Did the best I could and still was sub-6 for much of it. Part-way back we go past the 5k/8k split, which is now where we rejoin. Given the timing of the race, I would be joining in with the ~35 min folks, or 11-12 min/mile. Meaning I'm literally going twice as fast. Ended up staying in the middle of the road, going into the other lane to pass. It was still blocked off to traffic, and trying to go through these others would be about as safe as going through cattle. They're just not going to understand in time and it's just as safe.

No idea where any other 8k racer was after the rejoin, so just kept my effort up. Got to the end, went through the covered bridge and then the chute. Knew I wasn't hitting 30, but happy to still see under 31 on the clock.

Not much. I just did what I had on the day. This race was for fun, didn't hit my target, but it was ambitious and it was still a solid half hour training run. HR was solid, but still just under threshold.

Walked over to the food tent and grabbed a few things. Then just walked around, waiting for awards.


Training fatigue. I wouldn't change it for the priority of this race though.


Saw from the times that I was 7th overall, better than I thought it'd be given the time. 2nd age-group, so stuck around for the awards. Saw from the top 5k & 8k finishers that I'm a lot bigger than anyone else up here. Gotta be 40 lbs on a lot of them. One was really tiny, like I could throw him over a building. I'm usually on the bigger side, but not like at this one.