Luke - 10.25

Butte To Butte 10k, 33:57 (12th place)
I'm writing this nine days after the race, so we'll see if I have my usual level of race-recap detail.
Zack and I had a nice warmup jog to the start...it was slightly uphill but not a ton, and doing just over two miles ended up being perfect.  Didn't have to wait too long in the bathroom line, and after changing my shoes and taking off my warmup clothes I headed to the start for a few strides.  Saw a lot of people I knew there and we chatted until the national anthem (the chick skipped the very first line for some reason and started with "By the dawn's early light") and the gun.  Once the gun went off I kinda realized my head wasn't in the game, as they say...I hadn't really visualized before the race or made super-in-depth plans as I like to do, so it was sort of an "Oh right, I'm racing...what do I do again?" moment.  I didn't quite go out as hard as I'd've liked and found myself pretty far back of a running buddy of mine named Jeff, who I would have liked to remain close to as I knew he was shooting for low 33s.  Ran off and on with Josh and Brad, a couple other running buddies that are usually close to me in races--Brad is more of a marathoner and Josh is often just in front of me no matter the distance.
The first mile of the race is a super-tough hill, and I came through at 6:10, only about 10 seconds behind where I'd hoped.  I was thinking 6:00 up and 5:00 down, then 5:15s or so the rest of the way.  Heading down the hill my mind wandered again and I again realized halfway through that I should have been pushing a little more.  When I did start pushing I caught and passed Josh, and then near the bottom of the hill I caught Brad.  I asked Brad if he wanted to go with me, and he said he was waiting till it flattened out.  I came through mile 2 in 5:11, again 10 seconds slow probably due to mentality rather than just not having it.  The third mile is known for being the place to "get your legs under you again" after the crazy uphill and crazy downhill of the first two miles, and I was able to do that pretty well and was feeling good.  The first .2 miles are still downhill, but the rest is dead flat, and I came through mile 3 in 5:10, even faster than the completely downhill mile (which I ran 4:35 on two years ago).  The next mile was pretty tough, it's the section with a couple streets that have banked turns, which suck to run on.  I did 5:28 for that one, and the fifth mile ended up also being a 5:28.  During those two miles I was running off and on with Brad...whenever I faltered he'd pass me and say good job and I'd "wake up" and go with him and then pull away from him.
I had mapped out a straight, slightly downhill mile the night before the race, where I told myself I'd really try to go fast.  It started at about 4.75 miles, so from 18th and High down to the railroad tracks at 5th and High I was giving it all I had.  Brad had pulled in front of me about a block before that, so I passed him as it started and then tried to pick off as many people as I could.  I kept telling myself that I would give it everything I had to try and pass these people, and then they'd probably outkick me, but I'd be fine with that. I passed probably 4 or 5 people in that mile, and my sixth mile split was 5:10, the same as my downhill second and third miles.  I was even able to hold off all the people that I passed, with a decent kick.  I had my last .2 at 77 seconds, so I'm guessing the sixth mile was slightly short and the .2 was slightly long, but whatever, the point is I felt good.
Jeff ended up finishing one place ahead of me, but about thirty seconds in front of me.  My time would have gotten me about sixth last year, this year was just more competitive (although the top three times were a lot slower than last year).  My official time was 34:02, but there are pictures of me crossing the line at 33:57, and my watch says 33:57, so that's what I'm writing down.

Post script, there was a barbecue at Josh's in the afternoon with a lot of runners, and the winner said no one went for the King Of The Hill or King Of The Downhill awards that I'd gone for last year and the year before, so he won those, and his times were slower than my times two years ago!  And he said if anyone had tried to pass him at those places he would have just let them.  I picked the wrong year to run this race normally!