The goal going into the 15k was to simply do a progressive run and finish as strong as I can without straining to much. I knew it would be somewhat difficult watching people whom I beat way out in front of me at the start but I told myself to take it easy and stick to the workout plan. I had a goal of simply breaking 55 for the workout initially but once I began thinking about things, I knew that to achieve my other goal of 5th place it would take more.
After some thinking about the people who were competing, I thought finishing up in sub 54 should lock me up a spot and keep me around the 5:45ish average I wanted for the workout. I actually got a little warm-up in and used the stick to loosen the muscles up for a change. About 4 minutes before the race, I tucked away to myself and just tried to relax and take a breath, even though this was a workout, I intended to basically start racing the last 3 miles and I still needed a clear mind.
The gun went off and I was on about the 3rd or 4th row from the line which was fine w/me. I saw all of the CRC members take off and after looking around I thought a good initial goal indicator for the 1st mile was to be behind megan but be near jocelyn since both pace pretty well. It was great to actually have some conversation along the first 4 miles of the race or so. hit the mile in 6:04 and saw lat up ahead, we had a conversation for a minute about our plans and he told me that he couldn't leave for vacation because his passport expired and thats why he was at the race. At 2 miles I noticed that Billy was in front of me looking a little tiresome. We shared some thoughts and I told him to relax for the last 3 miles because it gets hilly.
Next in line was megan and she chose to stick to the true game plan and not talk during the race, so I got a thumbs up. Lisska was next and we chatted for a bit about the pack behind him and what we were both doing out there. before the 4 mile mark I caught brian and asked where his "war" paint was. At that point I knew I was a bit above the threshold that I wanted to maintain. Slow progression slow progression! I didn't have a watch but I know I was at 3 miles around 17:40. closing in on 5 miles I caught Paul and kept it going at this point because I dropped 2 sub 5:30's and it was time to catch Kent and Bill ahead. After 6 miles I finally passed Bill and caught Kent. Kent stuck on my hip for quite awhile even when I pushed up a hill. As I got to near 7 miles I thought for sure 3rd place would be mine as I was catching Mike and Greg very quickly.
Apparently Mike laid the gauntlet down as if on Que, when I began surge to catch him. Mentally it got me a little out of it and after 8 I realized I wouldn't catch them so I just needed to maintain my pace, because I thought I was gapping kent pretty well. All in all through the finish it didn't feel "great" but it wasn't painful. I was pleased with my effort. I achieved both of my main goals, breaking 54 (53:38) and also placing 5th. This was a new PR by over a minute but I didn't close the last mile as quickly as I hoped.
After that it was a few hours of fun at Sheila's lake house and then some more group fun at night. After 5 hours of sleep and some dehydration, i managed to wake up and ride to Francis beatty park with Jay and Ieva, to join the CRC members for a trail run. It was great to chat with Bert who was in from out of town as well.
Kudo's to everyone at the 15k, Megan got a big PR and didn't talk the whole race, Ben and Dan ran a hell of a race together mostly. Mike is a beast and he ran away from me towards the end.
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