Yesterday I listed several things I knew would happen between that post and now. All did but one -- I had no contented metro ride home after today's race. Try as I might I can't put a brave face on it.
First 5K went nearly exactly the same as last year (a race that remains my personal best half marathon) -- 6:28 first mile, 20:07 at the 5K. By mile 4 I knew I wasn't going to maintain that speed. Came through the 10K mark at 41:30 and 10 miles at 1:07:40 -- by now 2:40 behind last year's pace. D__, with whom I was running, kept moving strong and I let him go early on. M__, whom I know from track workouts, came by at mile 12, and I said "cheer for me at the end." (There's a painful parallel to an old junior high school cross country experience I may relate later.) I finished with a 1:28:52.
I knew a PR was a stretch, but I thought a bad race would still be a 1:27. This is the frustration with mid-distance and shorter races -- a few minutes variation really matters. (By contrast, if I show up for a marathon wanting to run 2:59, and I run 3:03, I'm still pretty happy.)
Duke's coach, whose name I won't try to spell, said about that team's first-round loss to Lehigh that basketball is a great sport because of the incredible highs and the incredible lows. 2010 was a tough year in which I failed to finish 2 events and missed my goal by several minutes in my 2 marathons. Last year all the dominos seemed to fall my way, with the exception of a disappointing finish in Boston. This year, well, maybe it's good to remember that improving is non-linear and really hard work.
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