Turkey Trot 8k (11-23-07)

My goal for this race was to PR. I'd only ran one 8k before and I finished it in 35:12. My plan was to go out at a 6:50-7:00 pace for the first 3 miles, and then see what I had left in the last 2 miles. In the past month I hadn't really done any fast running, so I was VERY apprehensive about how this race would turn out. 

I walked outside and it was FREEZING!  25 degrees, 18mph winds, and lots of snow flurries. But I reminded myself that between the weather and my lack of fast training, I wasn't gonna fret over the outcome of this race. 

When the gun went off I knew immediately that I didn't get enough of a warm up in. My toes and fingers were numb and stinging. About a 1/2 mile into the race I started getting all paranoid and nervous. I was feeling tired, fatigued, cold, and anxious. A lot of negative thoughts were going through my head and they kept building upon each other. I hit the first mile in 6:43, shit, too fast, I need to ease up.

I backed off the pace, and at mile 1.5, the anxiety and discomfort turned off like a light switch.  Suddenly I settled into a rhythm, the numbness in my fingers and toes went away, and I hit a nice, comfortable stride. People were passing me pretty frequently, but I just ignored it and let 'em go. I was a lil slower than I wanted to be for mile 2 and 3, but I knew I'd saved up enough for a strong finish. At mile 3 there was a guy yelling out people's places, I was in 188th or 189th. I wonder how long he kept that up for. 

I stepped it up pretty well from mile 3 to mile 4, and when I hit the 4th mile marker, I was ready to turn it into overdrive. I started picking people off left and right. I'd spot someone 10-15 feet ahead of me and just reel them in. Once I caught em, I'd spot another person ahead of me and reel them in too. This went on for the entire last mile, it felt friggin great!  

The pain/discomfort in the last mile wasn't even that bad, I was too excited from blowing by all the people that had passed me earlier in the race.  In the last quarter mile, I cranked it up a lil more, and started squeezing out whatever I had left. With only 150 meters to go, I caught up with a guy who REALLY didn't wanna get beat. We went stride for stride until there was maybe 30 feet left to the finish line. I just bore down, and cranked out everything I had left. I'd never done anything like this before, and couldn't believe my turnover rate.  I was flying!!! I pulled away from the guy and finished about 3 or 4 feet ahead of him!  After crossing the finish line I turned around and gave the guy a big high five and a hug. Much respect, dude.  I've had a couple exciting finishes before, but this is BY FAR the best dual I've ever been in. 

Here's the splits...

Mile 1- 6:43
Mile 2- 7:00
Mile 3- 7:06
Mile 4- 6:56
Mile 5- 6:08
FINISH- 33:55 (almost 1:20 min PR)

19/285- AG
139/3,149 Overall (from 188 at mile 3)

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for your support. Happy Thanksgiving!