There are two words for this race....”hot” and “humid.” The temp at race time was in the upper 60s and reached the 70s by the end of the race with a bright sun and no shade all the way. Other than that, it was a good, fun race. 

 

I did a little better job of goal setting this week than last week. Last week’s 10k race in near perfect weather conditions equated to a 1:20:00 15k, or an 8:35 pace. I added 10 sec/mile to that to allow for today’s hot weather conditions and set a realistic goal of 1:21:30, or 8:45/mile pace. I also set last year’s time of 1:20:05 (8:35 pace) in this race as a ceiling goal, although I really didn’t think that was practical. For a floor goal, I chose 1:23:00.

 

The course is excellent.....flat and fast. The only turns on the course are in the first mile, which goes through a neighborhood before heading down Bayshore Blvd along Hillsborough Bay, and a short 3 block loop at the turnaround at the 5 mile point. The final 4 miles retraces Bayshore Blvd to a finish at the Tampa Convention Center.

 

I ran a fairly consistent race and finished in 1:21:43 for an average pace of 8:46. I started just a little fast for the first two miles, over adjusted slightly for miles 3 and 4, settled into the right range for the rest of the race and had a little left for a very modest kick at the finish. My splits were 8:42, 8:41, 8:54, 8:51, 8:48, 8:45, 8:47, 8:45, 8:48 and 2:42 (8:27 pace) for the last .3195 mile. My 5k splits were 27:13, 27:20 and 27:10. Can you tell that the course is pancake flat? J

 

I finished 39 of 118 in the 60-64 age group and 2575 of 5866 overall.

 

We had an RW Forums encounter before the race. Tim Tanner is visiting me from Canton, Ohio for a few days. Tim and I met SteveR and his wife Laura of the RW Beginners Forum and Judy Servidio and Sheila Stanley of the RW Masters Forum, along with a friend of Judy’s named Penny, at the Convention Center before the race. I had met Steve and Laura previously at last October’s MCM Bridgestormer gathering. It was great to meet Judy, Sheila and Penny....three delightful ladies....for the first time. We saw Judy again with her husband after the race. We never did manage to hook with Donna of the RW Beginner’s Forum.

 

All things considered, it was an enjoyable day and my race went pretty much as I expected. Although, midway through the race as I was wilting, I kind of wished I had opted for the accompanying 5k instead of the 15k. J

 

Jim2

 

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