my makeup may be flaking

62:20 for 10 miles, 6:14 pace (5:50 adj)

Last year I managed a 63:08 in this race which was good enough for 12th. Last Sunday I ran 67:10 for the full course in a time trial.

Went out way too fast (5:43, 6:29 last week, -46 seconds), which was frustrating. I'm still really bad at pacing myself. This mile isn't as bad as it seems as the first mile is probably the easiest of the race. I was in a small group with Victor Breedveld and Andre Barnes. I stuck with them through mile 2 (6:20,-32 seconds) and 3 (5:56,-37 seconds).

It was here that I lost my nerve. a little. The fourth mile starts with a big uphill and I didn't really attack it. I lost Victor and Andre and another group of 4 people passed me on the hill to form a supergroup of 6 guys ahead of me. For the next two miles I watched all those guys start to pull away. Mile 4 was 6:21, only 15 seconds faster than last weekend and I'm really struggling with the hills. However the nice thing about any Atlanta race is that if you're not feeling good, you can just wait a few minutes and the course will totally change. Mile 5 is a lot more manageable but I slowed down more to 6:24 (-21 seconds).

Standings at half way: (Only including +/- 1minute of me because it's a big race. Men's leader, Andrew Mclain was at 25:18 at halfway and ran 51:17. That adjusts to 4:48 pace which is whack.)

So at halfway I've got a couple of people ahead within striking distance, but I've been steadily losing ground and I'm feeling a little wobbly already. In mile 6 I stop the bleeding with a 6:20 (-22) and catch up to Ken Porterfield. We run together for most of the rest of the way. Mile 7 is 6:14 (-32) which is back on track and I'm starting to feel hopeful that the race won't be a disaster.

The atlanta 10 mile does something interesting where they time the 8th mile separately and list it as 'Conquer Cardiac Hill'. I don't really care about that, but it does mean more mats. I have to figure this out based on the time stamps for each person though.

So at the bottom of cardiac hill (6.8 ish miles), the race around me looks like this.

I've held my ground with everyone around me, unfortunately 'Cardiac Hill' doesn't sound like something I'll do particularly well at. At the top the race now looks like this. Check out Chris Nasser, that sandbagger! Also I had pretty much surrendered my lead on the 2014 ghost runner. I really ran strongly last year until hitting a wall at mile 7.

It's not a disaster. I'm not sure that this is a mile like they advertise, as my actual split for mile 8 is 6:38 (-25 seconds). As soon as we crest the hill, I surge and catch Kenneth. We both pass Lauren Sara and catch up to Andre. Then mile 9 has more uphill and Kenneth drops me again for good (that's three times he passed and dropped me). Mile 9 is 6:14 (-33 seconds) and now I'm feeling pretty positive. It seems clear that I will beat my time from last year, which was very much in doubt at mile 6. I drop Andre for good but now I can hear the cavalry coming in the form of Michael Smith, Chris Nasser and another guy who didn't have any chip splits, but finished 1 second behind me.

My legs are totally trashed in the last mile but I muscle out a 6:04 (-33 seconds), but two guys pass me in the final stretch which is a bummer. It's a strength issue not a speed issue, I think.