Chip Time: 1:27:12
Watch Time: 1:27:24
Pace: 9:19 min/mi
Comments: The first race in quite some time for me and I went in with pretty conservative expectations. Just get it done. Nothing fancy. Negative split if at all possible.
I started pretty slow, partially due to the congestion at the start of the course. There were a lot more folks in this race than I expected and some of the turns were pretty tight. No biggie.
For the first 5K I just kept it at a slow comfortable pace, hitting it at just over 10 min/mi. A ton of folks passed me but that was fine. The only times I sped up was to get in front of the morons wearing speakers. It turned out that a lot of the first third of the course was uphill, so my strategy was even more sound than I expected.
For the second 5K I still kept it in my comfort zone but focused more on cadence. The course crested in this portion and I started riding noticeable downhills. I crossed the 10K mark with a 9:45 min/mi overall pace.
The last 5K was all about pushing it a bit. I increased both cadence and effort to not-quite-race-pace level. The first and second mile of this 5K were at 8:40 min/mi pace. For the final mile, I tried to get at race pace effort -- my goal was to ensure nobody passed me through this part. This mile was under 8:30 pace.
I finished with a pretty good time (90 minutes was my ballpark guess for a solid race). My legs didn't feel wiped out afterward but were definitely tired from the effort. I didn't make any major mistakes like going out WAY too fast. Overall, a very solid effort.
Conditions
Hour: 8:15 a.m
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: clear
Temperature: 42degrees
Humidity: 74 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Dallas, TX
Shoes: Brooks Glycerin 17
Injury update: nada