Despite having to settle for a cotton t-shirt because they ran out of tech shirts, I collected my stuff and set about my preparations. Matt decided not to race, as his body has been having a little trouble recovering lately, so he was my support crew today (for which I am very grateful). He warmed up with me, and then ran out to the one-mile mark before the race began to cheer me on. The temps were perfect, right around 50 degrees, but there was a stiff breeze in our faces on the first half of the out-and-back course.
I lined up with the elites, next to some of the guys that I run with when I manage to make it to morning runs. Ben and I decided we were going to shoot for a 5:10 average, so we took off together and stayed together through the first mile. We were a bit slow, however, logging a 5:20 split because of the wind. I tucked in behind Ben, with another runner behind me, as we struggled to hold our pace. Without that drafting, I am not sure I would have done as well, because I was struggling to stay on during the second and third miles.
We hit the turnaround in 16:33, definintely slower than planned, but we had a fantastic-feeling tailwind at our backs for the return trip. I tried to rev it up a bit and Ben fell back, struggling with a stitch. He managed to bridge back and then pass me, running with a little more strength than I had in my legs. I let him go as he increased his pace, wanting to make sure I kept my pace even and to avoid blowing up.
As I neared the final mile, I increased my pace a little bit, trying to close the gap to Ben and the other runners ahead, who had about 30 seconds on me. I clocked a 5:15 final mile as I crossed the line, utterly spent, in 33:04. I ended up finishing 11th overall and 3rd in my age group in a competitive field, and I broke my 10K PR by more than three minutes.
The duathlon season begins next weekend, as Matt and I head south to Sylvania, Ohio, to try to duplicate last year's 1-2 finish at the Dooby Du Duathlon.