my makeup may be flaking

Went down to American Fork today to run a Memorial Day race. Given that this was one of 26.2 running company's "Platinum" races I thought there would probably be some good competition. I had pretty low expectations as I had planned on doing a low key half marathon today that got canceled.

I saw quite a few runners with 26.2 running co. singlets at the start so I figured I probably wouldn't be competitive. The 5k and 10K started together and so I was content to let the pack get away a little at the start. After about 800m, Brandon Hebbert flew by me and went to the front of the pack. He looked strong and I could only hope he wasn't running the 10k.

Right at the mile (5:11, it was a bit short) I was starting to catch up to some people when the 5k and 10k split. Suddenly it was just Brandon ahead of me (by over 20 seconds). I started to cramp up a little and feel a bit nauseous. Glancing back I saw 3 or 4 people within 20 seconds of me so I knew I had to keep pushing.

The next couple of miles were uphill and I slowed down quite a bit (5:32 and 6:04). These miles were both slightly short by a few seconds and the slowdown was mostly due to the uphill. I reached mile 3 (2.94 miles) in 16:48. The course tool said I should be at 17:08 here based on my finish. That meant I lost 20 seconds in the next 2 miles (which included a steep down and a steep up). I was feeling fairly nauseous still and also my shoe came untied. I was also out of sight of both first and third place now so I had entered more of a tempo mode.

In the last mile I picked up the intensity a little but I didn't feel fantastic and there were now a lot of people to weave in and out of. In addition a lot of the 5k runners from the lead pack were now doing a cool own going back along the course and getting in my way. Even though they could see me coming I was forced into oncoming traffic a couple of times. Maybe I needed to be wearing one of those neon green singlets the 26.2 guys had. Anyway I achieved my goal of a sub 34. The course was certainly short but this was probably off set by the hills.

This was a free race which is awesome and I wasn't too concerned that the course length was off. Allie and I split the $25 coupon to Costa Vida that Seth Wold handed to her for her efforts.