I crashed at the apartment of long time friend, Alex Hall, in Hanover the night prior to the GMAA 15k race. The race served as one of the remaining New England Grand Prix races, which always adds a bit more importance, so we all hit the hay early to try and be rested for the 9am start. The drive to the race went smoothly and I was glad to get moving for a warm up after picking up my bib. We ran to the start and back to the school before jogging to the start again for about 22 minutes of warm up. Eventually I met up with the Whirlaway crew and I could see many of the guys had their game faces on. Ruben especially appeared hyper-focused. I followed suit and hoped to support the team with the #5 position if all went well during the race. The weather was less than ideal; light rain, very high humidity and a steady wind would make for some strategic decisions during the race. I had the loose plan of getting out well but not too aggressive and taking the race one mile at a time.
The race started on time and we were off on a net downhill 5k start. The wind made things interesting and pretty early on we saw a very long double-file train of runners cruising along looking pretty effortless. I felt slightly bad for the taller guys who were getting used for their exceptional draft potential. Around 2 miles I decided that unfortunately the pace of the group I was in had become too hot and I needed to back off or face implosion. I backed off to 5:33 for mile 3 and soon found myself getting swarmed by racers moving up. Mile 4 included a couple decent hills and I expected it to be a slow one. It was. But on the backside the hills I managed to hold pace with those around me. Miles 5-7 were probably the worst for me. I was passed pretty regularly and each time I would try to dig down and find a slightly better rhythm to no avail.
Finally into the latter part of mile 7 I started to get excited for the shallow downhill of the final miles. Finally the last big hill came into view and it was a relief to see it wasn't nearly as steep as rumored. After cresting the hill early in mile 8 I was able to start reeling in runners ahead of me and I finally stopped getting passed. Some guys were coming back while others were still getting away from me. I passed a few guys in mile 9 and made a really hard push up the final hill and into the parking lot for a solid finish. I was a little disappointed not to catch a couple of guys who were coming back to me until I ran out of real estate. Mile 9 was a 5:12 and the final .4 was at a similar pace including a good uphill into the parking lot. Finishing time was 52:02 for 30th place overall in the men's Open division.
I'm pleasantly surprised at holding up strong enough to finish well here in Burlington. I knew that 15k would really be stretching my fitness and I am happy with the decision to back off after the two quick early miles. Amazingly I negative-split the race and the humidity didn't melt my brain like I thought it might be doing in the midst of a particularly brutal mile 6. More importantly, I was able to hang on to my #5 position on the team and help us secure the win in the men's open division!! By our math, we have (unofficially) tied WMDP for 1st in the GP series with only two events left. I have less than 2 weeks to be prepared for 10k and I'm hopeful to make a run at the Manchester Marathon in early November to cap off the year.
After the race, Lauren, Alex, Fiona and I headed into Burlington for lunch, enjoyed a couple good Vermont brews, and some shopping around before heading home. My mission to return home with a VT Heady Topper was not to be.
Garmin data here
Results here
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