This is the one of the few races around here where you can swear about the distance, it is a legit 10k and it is the only race with no monster hills, just a few rollers, for these reasons it is usually well attended at the end of the racing season. On top of that there are money prizes for the fastest teams (my team won today and it is going to win the whole local competition in a couple of races). Today it was a typical november morning with light rain, fog and somehow warmer temperatures and this greatly reduced the number of the runners. I got there at 8:30, found my bib number and went back to the car where I left the umbrella and the rest of the clothes. During the 3k warmup the rain stopped, the organizers decided to take advantage of this break and to start the race as soon as possible a few minutes before 9:30. With my current level of fitness I thought finishing in 41 minutes it would be a reasonable goal. I started on pace, something that doesn't happen very often, but I soon realized that 4:06/k would be an ambitious plan, next 3k were slightly uphill on a unpaved/muddy road and I did 4:07, 4:18, 4:23/k, we turned around and headed for the finish line in 4:15/k. Second loop I felt strangely a little better my legs were more cooperative and I kept the following splits: 4:11, 4:08, 4:27, 4:03, 3:58/k for a total time of 41:55. I was slower than planned, this was the bad part. The good thing was the second half that was faster than the first and I thought I could have kept 4:10-4:15/k much longer, somehow after warming up during the first loop I couldn't switch gear until the very end. It was a good race and did another fast workout, now I have to keep training hard.
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