IBM

Low 50's, sunny, no wind.  Can't ask for better than that!  I was a little nervous.  I have never had more than a mediocre performance in a 10K but decided today I would run at a steady hard effort...that means no Garmin and no worrying about splits.  I was just going to monitor the effort and kick hard at the end.  

Team Road Runner Rogue consisted of myself, Trevor, Brandon, Jeff, Laura Kate and Amy.  We did a 2 mile warm up with Karen  and I felt better in a warm up than I ever have.  Stretched and did drills and strides.  Karen embarressed poor Scott M when she made him demo his impecable running form.  It was his fault - he's the fool that joined us for drills and strides.

Starting line - saw one of my age group competitors lined up and we chatted for a bit.  Then I found Brandon, Jeff and Trevor and we waited as a group.  Great job on the national anthem today.  Wheelchairs went off.  5 minutes later we were off.

Initially I felt some wierd numbness in my left calf but just tuned it out.  In every race the first mile is the toughest.  I just tried to find my rhythm and follow the tangents.  Much less congested than 2 years ago (turns out it was kind of a small race - less than 1500).  I was OK once we hit mile 1 and I was in a groove and running a reasonable pace.  There was a guy from mile 1.5-3.5 who kept trying to cut me off - I finally told him to go away!  I would try to accelerate and he would push the pace to get in front of me and then drift into my line, so I would slow down a bit and he would slow down too.  Once we got onto Gracie Farms, I knew this was my chance - it was uphill - I picked up my pace and dropped his ass - for good.  Never saw him again.  Then I saw this woman who would run - at a decent pace and then walk for maybe 10 steps and then start running again.  No way she was gonna beat me.  So, maintaining my rhythm I slowly but surely gained on her.  Kept her in my sights as we passed the 5 mile marker.  I knew this was where I needed to start my kick.  I picked up the pace a little and started picking off people.  Came around a turn and saw mile 6.  Karen had specifically said that no matter how good or bad the race went we had better be running fast here.  So I picked up the pace.  Now I'm neck and neck with the run/walker.  We are on the home stretch.  She pulls ahead just a little.  Karen, Geezer, Kris and other Rogues were yelling for me to close harder.  In the past I would have been screw it - she's not in my age group (she looked way younger than me) but this time I was like, hell no...and I dug down and sprinted hard to the finish.  No, it was not Usain Bolt like but it was an awesome 100m finish and yes, she was behind me.  Overall time 44:26 - about 1:30 PR. 3rd in my age group.  No complaints from me!  This is how I'm gonna run San Antonio half marathon.  Same attitude - steady effort and big kick at the end!