The big goal for today was to try to break 40 minutes, 6:26/mile. My previous PR for 10k was 40:32, and I was feeling like I had a good shot at beating that. I went with my usual "start off way too fast and try to hang on strategy", hitting the first mile in 5:57, and the second at 6:15. A few more small hills in the third mile, but I hit the 5k mark at 19:20 (a PR for 5k by 30 seconds). At that point, I backed off a little, feeling pretty good that I could cruise a little more in the back half and still beat 40. What I did not know was that the course was to get much more hilly in the last three miles, and the pace started to drop. Going into mile 6 I thought I still had a shot - if I could just get to the mile 6 marker by 39 minutes, then I could push that last .2 and maybe make it. Unfortunately, there was not a mile 6 marker, and by the time I rounded the last corner, saw the finish line, and started sprinting, it was too late.

I think my favorite part of this race though was the 50-ish year old guy who started out just in front of me - he was wearing an old white t-shirt tucked into shorts that he wore half way up his chest, and he had a stride that looked painfully inefficient and slow - I never caught him :).

Hmmm, maybe something to do with pacing and strategy? :)

So even though I didn't make my ideal goal, I still need to be happy with this race. I beat both my 10k and 5k PRs, and came in the top 4% overall. Plus it was a very nice spring day and great to be outside and running somewhere new, so life is good.