I went into this race more anxious than usual. There were too many ups and downs with my training since DesNews and definitely too many days spent in the gym on machines. Considering all of that I couldn't be more fortunate about how my body held up and for the ultimate outcome. In hindsight I know I didn't run a smart race (1:10/1:11) as this is definitely a negative split course. Jon Kotter and I just got a little carried away early on and then it turned into a sufferfest to the end. And fortunately for us we had banked just enough time to hold off Scott, Justin, et. al. from catching us. Iain did catch up and pass Jon but i think he would also admit that he went a little hard early on. I will write more later about the back and forth with Jon when I don't have to use a dumb ipad (no offense to the nice driver Amiee). More interesting and exciting than my run was seeing Scott, Justin, Hille, Dan, Matt, Brandon, RAD, Riley and probably many others crush their PRs. Race recap: Pre-race wasn't eventful which was a big improvement over DesNews. Watch- X, GUs- X, 2 shoes- X, Bib- X. It's a good thing I don't do triathlons anymore because they have a lot more stuff to remember. Race got off on time and I immediately proceeded to the front. After two miles or so the pack dwindled to just myself, Jon Kotter, Aaron Metler, and Pepi Peterson, but I was sure there were several other packs not far behind. This is where we started down some hills and with the added tailwind we ran the next 5 miles (3 through 7) in less than genius 25:04. Pepi was still holding up the rear while Aaron, Jon and I were basically running stride for stride. From there we obviously had to back it off a bit because for the next five mile we basically ha d to climb a net of 300 ft. Coming off a 5 minute pace it felt like we were running in mud up those hills but I didn't pay any attention to pace and just ran off effort. I was trying to push as hard as possible without stressing and building up too much lactate acid in the quads. It was a relief to finally reach the peak at about mile 10 and fortunately it only took about a quarter mile to flush the quads and start picking up the pace. It was somewhere during the climb that we lost Pepi and then at around mile 11 or 12 Aaron fell back a bit. At this point there was still no signs of Iain but I knew that he had to be right on our heals. Jon and I went through the half way point just barely over 1:10 which was about a minute faster than the 1:11 that I thought was ideal. Although I knew the 1:10 was a bit fast I was still optimistic that my quads would have enough left to take advantage of the steeper miles to come. Miles 15 through 18 splits were 5:08, 5:06, 5:13 and 5:15 and the climb up mile 19 was a 5:43. Those are the miles I think I want back because I had gotten so caught up knocking elbows, literally and figuratively, with Jon that I didn't realize how much energy we were expending and wasn't even considering that there were many other fast runners right on our heels. We went through 20 and 21 in 5:25 and 5:11 and it was right around there that I caught my first glimpse of Iain over my shoulder. He was actually paying attention to the course and running the tangents while Jon and I were rounding the turns. I quickly fixed that and crossed the road and tried to ignore that it was not a three person race. Usually when I am being caught at that point in a race it means I will get passed but oddly in this case Iain never surged ahead of me or Jon. For the next couple of miles I tried to push where I could and FINALLY, FINALLY Jon fell off a bit going into mile 23. At that point I still had no idea if Jon was holding back for a kick at the end or if Iain still had something left. I just hunkered down and ran my fastest and prayed they wouldn't show up. As my last few splits would show I was certainly on the brink of hitting or basically falling into the wall for the last couple of miles. It really wasn't until I rounded the last corner that I took a breath of fresh air, purely a figure of speech, that I knew I would win. That last .3 seemed like forever and it was a bigger than usual relief to cross the tape. I got my barrings, spoke to some reporters, drank some water, then turned around to see all of the other great finishes, i.e. Iain, Jon, Scott and Justin (winners of smart racer award), Pepi, Riley, Ben, Dave, etc. The awards ceremony was second to none as usual and best or worst of all I earned a lifetime entry into the race. I wanted to run a 1:11/1:09 but ended with a 1:10/1:11. That can't be ideal splits for a course like this (Scott's splits are more like it) but at least I learned a lesson and getting the win was monumentally more exciting than going sub 2:20. Congrats to everyone who had amazing races of their own and a special thanks to Jon Kotter for forcing me through misery. For better or for worse, I don't think this will be the last time as we now live a half a mile apart. Splits: 5:12,5:25,5:05,5:00,5:09,4:52,4:58,5:47,5:46,5:31,5:46,5:38,5:22, 1st Half 1:10:05 5:24,5:08,5:06,5:13,5:15,5:43,5:25,5:11,5:28,5:25,5:26,5:36,5:44 The picture below was probably shot around mile 16 or 17. A bit too close for my liking. Iain and Aaron are close behind. And yes, Jon and I were intentionally not running the tangents. Turns out that treadmill training has another benefit: you get used to staring at a red digital clock. 
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