Houston 5K, 3rd in AG. 43 out of 259

Ride was in the Great Buckeye course. It was good to experience the course and get an idea of what direction to go. Also was able to make a few mental notes along the way to help with the race.
1. 1st 12 miles of the course suck! Just about the entire section along Old Columbus Rd is a climb, wasn't steep but steady. 1st lap stayed around 17-18mph but 2nd lap dropped down to 16 and had difficulties maintaining an even spin. The wind coming out of the northeast didnt help either.
2. At SR54 is the 1st chance at downhill, road also gets alittle rough but nothing terrible.
3. After turning onto McConkey Rd and reaching mile 12 is the best time to push, there are a couple of turns that had to be slowed down for but hopefully during the race these will be patrolled and will not have to slow down.
4. The hill going into Catawba sucks! My motivation was to get past the haunted house as fast as possible.
5. After Catawba the fun begins. Everything is downhill for the next 3 miles, need to be carefull though about 1 mile out, couple of sharp curves going downhill, 1st lap I braked, 2nd lap no brake.
6. Need to be carefull of Hidden Valley Farms on Neer Rd, almost puts you into relaxation mode, then of course it snaps you out of it when you have to climb out of the valley, 2 climbs and then the turn around.
7. After turning onto Mahar Rd the last of the climb begins, nothing major but still enough to get the HR up
8. The good part about the climbs on Mahar is that when the rd turns to the left it is all downhill, maintained 22-23mph with a low HR for the last 6 miles back to the turn around

Total Climb 2200ft

Still rough on the run, 9m pace for awhile and felt good then legs tightened up, Bike fitness I think is the biggest limiter.
This run is going to be hot, I think the majority of the course is in the sun with only a few spots shaded.