I've been well behind on my blog as W and I were expecting (and since had) our first child! To say we are excited is an understatement. I've finally had a few moments to think about my last race of 2018 so here are my brief thoughts.
This one was odd in that it was announced a few weeks prior to the Thanksgiving race date. This was especially odd as there were three race distances: 5k, 10k, and half marathon. I had no idea how many people would show up for this little known race. It was ran entirely on the B&O bike path from Lexington heading south and back. I ran the same course a few years ago and remembered it being relatively flat.
Race morning was chilly but not awful. There was a very slight mist prior to the race but that went away before the start. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people at this race. The 5k had 47 finishers, the 10k had 8, and the half marathon had 13. This race could certainly grow due to the fast course.
We started out on the path and I moved into the second group of runners. The second half of my year did not include much running for a variety of reasons. I knew this would not be anything near my 20:00-20:30 range and just aimed for a nice hard run. We headed south of Lexington and I moved ahead of a few runners before tucking in behind the leaders. This is one of those races in which it's difficult to tell who is in what race. I just focused on myself.
There isn't a whole lot to say about the course as it was pretty flat and fast. Just a bike path run through farm country. The lack of wind certainly helped, but I was certainly feeling the race by time we hit the turnaround. I hit the halfway mark in about 10:40 which is close to where I wanted to be.
The second half felt fast as we passed most of the runners and walkers. I noticed four people in front of me at the turnaround and wanted to just maintain fifth place. The fourth place runner was at least 50 meters away and sixth place was probably 25-30 behind. I couldn't let up too much, though my legs wanted to do so.
We finally hit Lexington and went down the only hill of note on the course. I tried to speed up and hit the mat in 21:42. I did maintain 5/47 overall and first in my age group. Not the best race of the year but I was pretty happy with the effort.
That's it for 2018! I have no idea what 2019 will bring since we now have a little one. I'm hoping to enter a 5k around March but it just depends. My next post will look back on the up and down 2018 running season.
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