Audi Scholarship Run 10K

32:20, 2nd Place Overall

1-15-2006, 7:50AM; Parkland, FL / 50-degrees, windy
Splits- 10:27, 5:08, 5:19, 5:11, 5:15, :56

* A bit of a disappointing race. I was aiming to run 5:05-pace, but with the arrival of four Kenyans, I decided to race a little tactical. I did not know how fast these guys were going to be, so I hung back a little at the start to surprise them, and before I knew it, the eventual winner, Mike Korir was gone... he would go on to set a course and city record 30:31 on the cold, windy morning. Anyway...

I did not catch the first mile marker in order to recognize that I had gone out too slowly. I hit two miles in about 10:25 and almost freaked out. I wanted to be closer to 10:10, but I was running too conservatively, so I set off after the lead Kenyan (who I thought was running 4:45 pace) and immediately dropped my two African pursuers. However, I could not reel in the leader and he put in quite a bit of distance on me into the headwind from 3-5 miles, as my legs were tight, but I rallied to finish strongly over the last 1.2 miles. The finishing time was a bit of a disappointment, but the effort was pretty solid, as I did defeat Paul Mwangi of New York (KEN) for the first time. I believe his time was closer to 33:30 or so on the course.

Well, at least I ran close to goal half marathon pace and so I will take the race as a good workout, and of course, my wifey got to get in a good run with her 42:39, first place in the 25-29 age group performance. Now, some breakfast with my brother and his wife and then hopefully some rest before tomorrow's race and parade...