Notes
This race turned out almost exactly like last years...to the point that last years notes seem pretty relevant again. 2nd place with a mediocre time. Lack of turnover after the midway point and struggled with the hills.
A solid first mile right around 5:20, though it might be a touch short where they had it marked. A sub par 2nd mile due to the two hills, one of which is quite steep. Wasn't able to put together a great 3rd mile and in a lot of ways only maintained my effort so 3rd place didn't have a chance of catching me.
Leader had about 8 seconds at the mile and I was ok with letting him jump ahead a bit. I had drafted 3rd place for a short period before opting to keep the leader within range. Right after the mile however begins the first gradual hill which seemed to kill any gain I was considering (even on 3rd place). I stayed conservative despite the footsteps behind and had a very nice surge and that same hill's back side. Things leveled off for a bit and I was trying to gain something on the leader but he was slipping further ahead. The steep hill slowed things right back down but he managed to put another 8 seconds on me by mile 2. I surged on the following downhills with what little juice I had left in my legs but he was using the downhills just as well if not better and he was clearly out of reach barring a pretty huge blowup on his part.
With about .5 left I knew it was over and I was pretty sure I had 2nd place secure. I kept fighting as best I could but the wind was out of my sails and all my efforts were just my typical race day effort of not giving up. It instead became a time game as I thought I would manage under 17 still. I tried a long steady drive to the finish but nothing stellar and nothing even close to a kick occurred even when I realized that sub 17 was slipping away. Rain started on final stretch.
Not very sharp right now with the top end speed....turnover felt weak after the mile. Breathing was pretty strong but still had a small sidestich for much of the last half.
Didn't eat breakfast and should probably reconsider that for future races. Lots of things to work on but hopefully this was just simply an off day.