Woke up very early. Race wasn't until 9am. Ate a go gurt, and a small bowl of cereal 3 hours before race time. Was a little chilly out so ran without sweats, but with gloves and head band. The race started on time, pretty well organized, course is a little jagged, and not well marked by Geneva road. They didn't have the map marked with arrows on a 1 mile loop around a block, which may have been why the guy who actually took first place, by about 5 minutes wasn't awarded it. Felt bad for him, he was flying. My mile splits were 6:13, 6:07, 6:27, 6:55, 7:14, 6:36: :41. My average heart rate was 178 which seems to be my race rate, though I wasn't feeling like I was getting tired, though I could tell I couldn't go much faster. From the start of the race, for about the first half mile I was probably in 7th place or so. I could tell there was 1 really fast guy who just kept pulling away, but everyone else was keeping my same pace or slightly slower. About the one mile mark I had passed the last two girls who were in front and was about 30 yards behind the 2nd (awarded 1st) and 3rd (awarded 3rd finished 4th (yellow shirt) place guys. I pretty much stayed with them for the next mile. I passed the eventual awarded winner for about a mile around the loop, but he passed me again on the way back up the hill, but was only about 10 feet in front of me. So the three of us stayed within 15-20 feet for the next two miles. We passed yellow shirt with about a half mile left. I could tell that the white shirt guy had a lot still left in the tank where I was running on the edge. My heart rate was over 180 and we kept slowly pushing the pace coming down the last quarter mile. I think I breathed a little too hard when I was coming back up to white shirt and he heard me and took off again and I was unable to catch him. He won (really came in 2nd, awarded 1st, about 5-10 seconds in front of me. Not sure how far back yellow shirt finished. I ended 1 second slower than the speedy spaniard race in July. I guess I have found some of my speed, though it hasn't felt like it. I felt much better through this race, wasn't on the ragged edge the whole time but didn't need to be. Was very surprised when I was awarded 2nd overall instead of third.
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