Boston Prep -- Sun. Mar. 28/BACKPOST 3

The Oleksak. This one I remember *vividly* and then some. Had planned to just run it at marathon pace as part of a 20 mile day, since I'd not managed to get a twenty-miler in thus far in my Boston prep. Had trouble getting there early, however, so only managed a shortish pre-run (nice terrain, old rail trails partly). The weather was good (not v. warm) and just before the start I found Rob L and asked him about the course: turned out it's fast, mainly downhill slightly after a few miles w/ uphill at the start. So I figured, give it a go and aim to get a good stretch out. We went off with Rob at the front (he WON the race in the end, pretty awesome-5:59 pace!!) and I took it carefully up the hills, but not trying to stay down to marathon pace. After four miles, there's the bagpiper and the gentle downhills begin -- I felt pretty good and went for it, keeping sub-6:30 for several miles, then as we reached the last three I faded a bit; definitely feeling it. But managed a burst at the end, and clocked a new PB, coming in 15th overall, and 4th in my division:

Time: 1:26:09 (GPS = 1:26:47)
Distance: 13.1 (GPS = 13.21)
Pace: 6:35s (GPS = 6.34)

(Can't remember why there's such a discrepancy in the times above--chip and gun?) Before the race, 4.12 miles, after the race a (rather painful!) 2.12 miles, for a total of 19.45 miles in 2:17:46 @ 7:05s. A good day's work, and definitely a race I'll do again next year. For the record, here are the splits from my GPS:

6:30, 6:50, 7:14, 6:50, 6:26, 6:00, 6:06,
6:18, 6:16, 6:33, 6:45, 6:45, 6:34, (6:26)