Two nights ago I was camping and barely slept at all. This morning I had to wake up at 4 am for the race but slept like a brick from 9:15 until then, so I actually woke up feeling ok, and I did not feel the negative effects of sleep deprivation during the race. The weather was great. Of course I got really sweaty but I never noticed the temperature during the race, and my warmup wasn't too cold either. I don't think we really had a tailwind but there was not a headwind either. It was fun being part of such a big deal race. I get excited when there is a pace bike, but this one had a pace car! The race itself went well. Although I had never run the course before, if you've driven through Duluth as I have, you know a lot of the course. The hills were present but moderate. There is a hill at mile 9 that I thought was way overhyped, but of course it depends on how fast you are going and whether you're doing the marathon or just 1/2. The worst part in my opinion, was that after going in a straight line for 12 miles, your last 1.25ish miles are in a loop around town. I kind of started to kick a bit with 2 miles to go, and so each turn we made I was expecting to see the finish line, but didn't. I seriously looked at my watch and was dismayed to see less than 1:30 had elapsed since mile 12, and I was thinking the end was about to come. Although that hurt, tbh I feel like this race was easier than the last one I did, for better or worse.
It took me like a couple minutes to pass the fastest woman out of the start, and I was thinking "what are you doing? You are getting way over your head!" Turns out she ran 69, a new CR and was being reasonable. The first pack I got into was a little hot for me, but I ran with someone the whole time. My roommate was actually the constant through that, we ran from miles 1-11 or so together. It really worked perfectly because for a while we were a group of 3, and it seems like one of us would lead while the others would hang on, then all of a sudden someone else would put in a burst and keep the pace going. Splits: 5:01, 9:58 (missed mile 2), 5:03, 5:04, 4:58, 5:09, 5:06, 5:04, 5:06, 5:08, 5:01, 5:40. My attitude most of the time was to try to stay under 5:06 pace to PR, and by mile 10, I think I knew I had one coming.
Overall, I'm happy with it. It's nothing spectacular, as it is probably an equivalent performance to last year's given it is a better course with more competition, but I'm glad I get to head home with a PR. I had that thought that there will be very few days in the future when I will get to say I ran a lifetime best in an event that day, so I should be grateful. And I definitely plan to come back next year! I can take a bus again using the travel money and make is a quick, fun trip.
| 