Pretty pleased with my effort this morning! Wasn't quite sure what to expect as my legs have been zapped lately and have generally felt sluggish and tired with the heat.
After an early morning (4:30!) departure I had some abnormal stomach issues that had me still in the porta-potty line at 6:54am for the 7am start. Glad I got it out of the way but skipped stretches and just ran over to the start. Was surprised by the lack of talent on the men's side, while the women's side was stacked pretty well. I went out conservatively as the course has a mostly downhill start leaving town for 5:57.17 first mile. Felt like it was confortable so stayed there for mile two as the course started to roll some. Split second mile in 6:00.32 and was in 2nd place with the lead runner 30 seconds in front. Mile 3 seemed to be my hardest mile as the south TN hills kind of got to me and I split 6:15.17 and was no longer feeling very well, but it quickly changed as the course started winding downward (and shaded) and I got a 5:58.47 back. The "hill" was in next mile and I didn't really remember how steep it was from my last time in Bell Buckle back in 2008, but it wasn't too bad. I slowed significantly but after the crest reengaged my legs and still split 6:27.72 for a first half of 30:39.
The second half was completely different... more downhill and mostly flat with some winding roads back toward the highway. I did slightly feel like I was running too fast for my current conditioning but I rolled with it trying to stay in the top 5. I split miles 6 and 7 in 5:58.82, 6:03.64. I could hear someone closing in on my during mile 8 and I really thought it was Jason Reneau; but was surprised to see that it was a runner from Nashville which in my head meant that Jason was still there and probably closing in! I fell to 3rd but that was the wakeup call that I needed to start digging in. Mile 8 was 5:56.92 and mile 9 was 6:05.77 as the course rolled along some hills ont he highway. I refused to look back at anyone, and just tried to keep at around 6 minute miles as we climbed the final hill toward the edge of town. It turned out that there was a 2 minute gap between me and the next runner which opened up further as I ran a 5:51.05 final mile coming back downhill into town. My second half was 29:56!
So I feel great about the time, having run much slower than that this spring on a flat course in Mooresville and today being much warmer, more humid with hills. The top 3 finish was just a fluke as no one else was really there and Jason was back in the pack just taking it easy. Ironically I ran 1:01 something here in 2008 and was 4th overall. I guess you can't control who shows up for a race and you just have to run your best and see how the chips fall.