The pre-race stuff was chaos, so by the time I got my chip and finished the last-minute sign-in, I only had time for a 1/4 mile warm-up before they were calling us to the start line. Oh, well, it's just for fun anyway. I can't complain, it was a free race.
It was super-humid (literally, the weather report was 100% humidity) and the start was a zoo. As usual, in spite of the announcer asking slower runners and walkers to start in the back of the group, I nearly ran over the walker who was one step in front of me. Because the race was run on the golf-cart path of the golf course, there was very little room for passing. I was able to get around a few of them in the first 100 yards, but then we got boxed in by hedges on one side and a water hazard on the other. I saw one kid nearly fall in the pond as he tried to pass there--oops!
The lack of a good warm-up really hurt me, then I went out a bit too fast as I tried to get around the slower racers. The first mile was on goal pace but then I started to have breathing issues. I ended up walking a short spell to get that back under control, then picked it up again. It was a struggle and overall, I'm not happy with how I raced mentally. I think physically, it wasn't too bad considering my current conditioning but I need to keep my head in the race better.
I did compare my time for this race to the last time I ran it and I was well over a minute faster AND in better condition that year (2008). I'm hoping that bodes well for spring training this year. Time will tell.
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