I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed in a race where I actually hit a personal record.  This race was only 40 seconds than my 10 mile PR 2 years ago.

In the meantime, my 10 km race time has went from 46:26 to 43:01 [3:25], and my 5k time has went from 21:54 to 20:36 [1:28].

I completely expected more, based on a treadmill workout of 20 miles with 15 miles at 7’30” pace, but that was over three months ago at this point.

I think I’ve just not been willing or able to put in the miles or the speedwork necessary to push my pace any further than it has gone.

Another factor:  No sleep.  2 out of 3 nights I didn’t get more than 2 hours of sleep in any one stretch.  You know you’re not in good racing condition when you’re ready to throw up before the race even starts.

The wind was a little bit of a challenge in this race, especially coming out of Iroquois Park, where the trash boxes were getting blown onto the race course, making the race a virtual steeplechase for some runners.  I recall yelling “look out!” to some runners who were about to get blindsided or tripped up by those boxes.

The rain managed to hold off for me until I was just about to turn into the stadium for the finish–then it unleashed.

Blech.

However, my minimum goal was to break 75 minutes, and I managed to beat that–even the clock time showed 1:14:59 as I crossed.

I’ll have to take it.

3 weeks until the marathon.

Time 1:14:40 (7’28” pace)

Half split: 37:19

Overall Place:  347 / 6925
Gender Place:  298 / 3213
Division (30-34 male) Place:  45 / 482