Race Report: Run Into The New Year 10K
Time: 38:34 (a non-college PR)
Place: 30th overall / 3rd AG

This was fun. My last run of a successful year, I just laid it out on the line. Congrats to Rochelle and Annie for running 500 miles together this year! Happy Birthday to the legendary Marty! And it was great to see all my other friends -- Krista, Tony V., Luke L., Bernard, Amy K., Tracey G., Jordan H., Antonio M., Alicia H. and too many others to name. Way to go everyone!!

The weather was great, and although a little windy at times, I couldn't have asked for much better weather. The course was pretty flat, but with lots of twists and turns to add some variety. I cut it close, making it to the start line with only a minute to spare. But I was really happy with my consistency and strategy during the race. I passed people when it made sense to and tried to stick to people and draft in the wind tunnels. That worked out well, and even when I felt like I was fading a little I was able to hold on.

I was a little confused by the measured distance though. My Garmin was short at almost every mile marker -- way short, like at mile 3 it said 2.87. I figured the mile markers were just incorrectly placed and it seemed to even itself out at the 5K mark. But then when I crossed the finish line, I was surprised to see 6.36 on my watch. I thought for sure I was going to be able to break 38:00, but I was deceived by the technology. It's tough to say whether the course was actually long. This particular series had issues last year with course length.

Overall though, it was a great race. I felt strong and was happy with my race strategy.

What a great way to ring in the new year. Happy New Year dailymile!!

Splits: 6:09 - 6:14 - 6:02 - 6:03 - 6:09 - 6:04 - 0.2 (0.36 actually) @ 5:21