First impressions. A little disappointed. I started well, better than expected with a first mile of 7:20. It felt quick, but not too stressful. However, I couldn't hold the pace and fell to a 7:41 in the second mile. The third mile was worse, with the wind in my face and a hill to climb. 8:15. And, the mile markers were off slightly. My finishing time was 25:10, officially 25:11. But the distance I recorded was 3.25 miles.
The pictures on this page are from last year's race when the weather was better. Today, many people rain in tights, sweats, and sweatshirt. Naturally, five hours after the start, the temperature is up to 51.
The variance was a little more than I would have expected. I knew I wasn't running the shortest line, but I tried to keep close to the middle of the street where it would be more level. My goal was anything under 25. Had I only run 3.1 miles, my time would have been around 24:25 so I'm not too unhappy. It's certainly something to build upon.
I ran no races in 2006 and just two in 2005. I rand the Aurora CIS 5K in 25:38, and the ALF 5K (the course was well short of 5K so time is insignificant).
I finished 86th overall out of 491, 10th out of 39 in my age group, and 73rd out of 248 men.
There was a 10K as well, and the 10K runners were not happy. There was confusion on the course about some of the markers and marshalls were either not there or not paying attention. Many runners felt they ran .75 mile longer than a 10K. It's the same they've used for 3 years so there is no excuse.
