The weather was great for a run up till 8:30am and then the rains came. It was raining very hard up to about 5 mins before we raced then it tapered off but it felt like the temp dropped. Everybody was getting cold by now waiting for the race to start. We got to the start line and the gun went off. I placed myself in the front of the pack to avoid slow kids. I paced off of a high school runner who I knew was faster. On the way out we were running into a cold head wind and a light rain. Got to the first mile marker in 6:26 which was really fast for me but I was staying with my pacer. There was 1 runner ahead of us and I knew no one was going to catch him today. By the time we got to the turn around my hands were numb but I knew we had a tail wind all the way back. I couldn't tell if the rain had stopped by now or not. I stayed with my pacer until the last small hill and he took off. I was now in survival mode with a racer closing in on me. With a 1/4 mile left I emptied the gas tank with one last push and finished 10 seconds ahead of him. I finished 15 seconds from second place but the winner ran a fast 17:47 on a tough course in bad weather conditions.

I felt like I ran a pretty smart race but I went out just a shade to quick. My goal was under 21 mins so I can't complain.

Got my sweat top back on. Water..Water...Water... Ate an apple, banana, stood around for awards.


Rain and head wind didn't help. Train more.


This was a Rotary Scholarship fund raiser and the Crossville Rotary did a great job on a cold rainy day.