It's over, man. Let her go.

Missed my goal (58:00) by a little bit, but it started me racing again.  More to come...I need a nap.

Well rested and fed, I've had time to reflect on this race. Overall, I'm satisfied. I gave myself plenty of reasons to 'fail' in this race: it's an injury recovery race, training has been inconsistent with low mileage, I've got a sinus infection, I'll run the first 5k then just finish the rest, etc. There were points during the race I think I used each of these.

This race had almost 9500 registered for the 10k. Only 7865 completed it. It is definitely the biggest race I've done so far. I started about middle of the pack and didn't worry at all about trying to get around people. I was very relaxed through about 2.75mi then the legs started getting tired. I think I hit the halfway point at 26:00 or so. From there, I didn't worry about walking once in a while. I can't say I gave it 100%, more like 85% maybe.

There was a sea of runners through the whole race. Had I been shooting for a fast time, I would have been incredibly frustrated with the pace and not being able to get around people for much of the race. The race was very well done and I would run it again. The Highmark runners did great and it was fun to see so many employees there.

I was successful in not overdoing it, trying to go too fast, and didn't reinjure, so now it's time to get back to some serious, consistent training.

Update:
I think this is definitely a PR course based on the elevation map and good weather.  I'm assuming since this has a negative elevation that this is considered an "aided" course?

Another year, but can't say I'm any wiser.  After about 25, I think I've actually gotten less wise.  I knew everything there was to know back then and after I turned 40, I think the decline is accelerating.

I had hoped to do my 41 mi run today but the running gods just weren't with me today.  I would have settled for a 4.1 mi run but I further settled for a .41mi (or so) jog at North Park while we were taking family photos up there.  A friend of the family is a great photographer and since she's a college student she appreciated the money to come photograph our family.  She did great!  After photos, we went to Chipotle for my birthday dinner since it was my choice.  Love those burritos with tons of Tabasco on them!

Don't tell my wife I posted this pic.  She wasn't going to put any up on Facebook or anywhere until we had decided on whether to use one for our Christmas card pic.  So, if you get a Christmas card from me and she happens to have used this one, act like you never saw it before.  ;-)  For the pictures, my son agreed to spiking his mohawk turned fauxhawk.  He refuses to cut it off but won't let us spike it either.

I got down to the gym today with just enough time to get in a workout before I had to haul booty home to get to the Cub Scout Pack Meeting tonight.  Fortunately, I didn't have to do anything for it except show up in my scout uniform and help with the activities.  I only have one Bear scout this year and he's new so no awards yet, but he'll get some done soon!  Of course, I couldn't find my scout shirt...found it the next day in my closet where it was supposed to be.  I think there are gnomes that do things to make me feel crazy but I haven't proven that yet.

I hit the treadmill since I had to be close to my work email on my phone.  I'm getting really good at responding to emails while running on the treadmill!  I don't even have to stop or slow down! After typing that, that's really sad actually...

Anyways, warmed up walking for .25 mi @ 3% then ran a mile at what's my current 10k pace (9:30) @ 3%, increasing to 5% by the end.  Then started the Intervals program for 15 mins @ 2%.  I set the "rest" to 6.2mph (9:40) and the speed to 7.5mph (8:00).  Each period was a min, then the second to last speed period, I increased to 8.0mph (7:30), and the last I started at 8.3mph (7:13), reducing to 1% and increased every 15 sec to 8.7mph (6:53).  This was a pretty good workout, especially at the end, but it felt good to get some speed in there too.

Did my usual (old guy) stretching so I wouldn't be too sore tomorrow.

I'm not sure what changed, but tonight's run was what I've been waiting for! The rain and gusting wind started just 30 minutes before I decided to head out. It was cold and obviously wet, but the best run yet. It felt pretty easy, averaged about 9:10 on the way out but overall pace was 9:01 so I sped up on the way back. Although I feel like I took it really easy and I'm not all that tired and not sore at all, for some reason my (recovered) foot is rather sore tonight. I'll have to ice it well tonight and hopefully it will feel ok tomorrow. I was planning on an easy 3 tomorrow but I'll wait and see.