Luke - 13

Oregon Marathon Relay 10k leg, 33:28.

My A goal was 33:20 and my B goal was 34:00, and overall my plan was to run 16:40 or slightly better for the first 5k and then see what I could do for the second 5k. The course was two 5k laps and the miles were marked well so it made it simple to stick to the plan.

Warmed up for about 3½ miles and met my teammates at the start. Only ended up having time for a couple quick strides before the gun but I probably didn't need much more. Josh Gordon was at this race, too; we chatted at the start and he said he was running the half marathon as a tempo run. At the start I took off and within about one second I was all alone. About 40m in I had to look behind me to make sure everyone else had actually started, it was a bit weird. So I was alone the entire race and I figured the tough part would be keeping my concentration. I sang Santeria by Sublime in my head for pretty much the entire race, because that song is 90 beats per minute, and an ideal stride rate is 180 strides per minute.

I don't practice Santeria

I ain't got no crystal ball

I left right left right left right left right

I'd spend it all...

First mile 5:16, feeling good. Second mile lost concentration a few times and hit a 5:31. Picked it up from there and hit 5:14 for the third mile and came through the first lap at 16:34 with lots of cheering. Knew it would be tough to come back in even splits, but figured I'd definitely get a real good time. The bike path has every quarter-mile marked and I had checked my watch at a couple of them in the first mile, so I did the same on the second lap. I was at :52 at the first marker I checked on the first lap, and was at 1:01 for the same split on the second lap! Guess I did sprint out pretty fast. I made up some time on the two quarter-miles after that and was maybe 2 seconds back of my first-lap pace, but I must have fallen off in the last ~600m because my split was 5:36. Really tried to push it in the next mile but I was feeling every slight rise and the couple sharp turns were a bit tougher to handle since I was tired. That mile was 5:37, so I was a bit discouraged but did some quick math to figure out 5:00 pace would get me to almost 33-flat, so I figured a quick enough finish could get me near 33:20. Got Santeria going in my head again and pretty much gave it everything I had and came through at 5:11, and finished at 33:28.

I think Josh Gordon was the next guy to come through, around 36:00 (he finished his half marathon in about 1:16) and then it was another couple minutes to the next runner. Our team all did quite well, and ended up third overall in the marathon relay, but first co-ed team.

Afterwards got pizza and beer and then napped.