Sunday, February 24th, 2013

15 miles.
DH Jones 10 Miler- USATF-GP #1 2013 season

I went into this rather calm, knowing that the training has been going pretty well. The only thing I was worried about working against me, perhaps more than some of my competitors, was the road condition, as with the way I drive off my forefoot, I always seem to lose more than most when the going gets soft and mushy.
We got there really, really early and subsequently had all the time we could ever want to get ready.
Warmed up for 3 and then hit the line with a very light, misty rain falling and the temps right around freezing.
Went through 1 in a very conservative 5:37 and 2 in a quicker 5:15, because of the long downhill. The nasty uphill at 2.5 worked in my favor and I picked off a few guys going up and over it, clocking a decent-for-that-mile 5:55. By the 1/2 mark I was seeing 28:29 stare back at me, but I was pretty sure I was around the top 20 and was in the lead for Masters, so I figured the conditions were weighting everyone a bit. That time in any other race would spell disaster, but this is the Jones 10 and on a day like this, it's not unusual. As we hit the pavement at 6, I began to recover, despite the fact that it was now snowing with a slight headwind, and went 5:27, 5:15, 5:23 and as we approached the last, nasty hill, I was still grooving in 5:30 land, unable to feel my legs very much. I got passed by 3 younger guys going up the final hill, but got one of them back by the finish, ending up at 55:42, a time that wouldn't normally be anywhere close to satisfying to me for a 10, but for this one, I'll take it.
I took top Master over 2nd place by about a minute and the team won the title, so I'm very, very happy about both those results.
Glad to have gotten that one out of the way and starting off the year solid and healthy, for me, but more so for the team. Last year, we were all sorts of beat up and had to spend the rest of the season digging back to tie for 1st. 
Also really psyched about how well Scott ran and Mike's excellent race. The latter is just getting faster and faster and as Scott pointed out, knows how to train and how to run. Really happy for him.
Looking forward to a strong March of training and really going all out at New Bedford. I want - and expect - more out of myself at that race than Boston.

M- 18
T- 6
W- 8
Th- 8
F- 5
sa- 5
Su- 15 (10 mile race.)

week- 65 miles