1:14:21 for sixth place. Traffic getting to the buses was ridiculous so I decided to park about 2.5 miles from the start and run there. That turned out to be a really good choice. Besides being a little cold in my racing gear for a few minutes it was pretty stress free. I got in my full warm up and some strides on my way to the start. Race seemed very organized and we were off very close to the 6:30 start time. The weather seemed perfect. I was determined to go off effort and not look at my watch at all until the mile splits. First two seemed conservative enough and were 5:41,5:44. A lead group of 4 had separated early and I was running with another guy for the first nine miles. We would trade surges and taking the lead but it was nice to have him there. Rest of the splits were 5:34,5:36,5:38,5:37,5:39, 5:39, 5:38,5:45,5:44,5:43,5:31, (4:59 pace for the last .16). The guy I was running with gapped me around 9 miles and I didn't respond well enough to stick to him. I was hurting so I tried of course but you always say "what if" when you look back. Anyway, I was a little disappointed with the time and miles 10,11,12 is where I lost the time that I was hoping for. The course was good, weather was perfect, and I gave it my all so I can't ask for much more. After the race I quickly cooled down and went to watch the marathoners come in. I was coaching a few in the race and I got to see Jake going for the win with about 1.5 to go which was very cool to see. For about an hour I had no idea if he had won or not. Overall a great day doing something I love to do. | 