It was a wild drive up to Houston Saturday morning with lightning, strong wind and torrential rain. I was even blinded for a second when one lightning bolt went horizontally across the sky just in front of me. By the time I got to Houston it settled down to just a light rain. I tried running some warmups with my glasses on, but they were quickly covered by raindrops and fog. I ditched my glasses in the car, so I could at least see the pavement in front of me. The rain did cool the air down a few degrees. It was in the low 60s with a light southeast wind ( that was the coolest weather all week).
I wasn't able to see the people around me very well, but just after the start I was able to recognize someone who usually finishes just ahead of me, so I followed him. I ran the first mile in 5:46. We were passed by a younger guy, so I tried to pick up on him. I'd been trying to prepare myself earlier in the week for the second mile, so I was ready to put out more effort. The second mile was a 5:56 for an 11:41 two miles. I was doing the math and thinking I probably wouldn't meet my goal (sub-18 or my PR 18:11). I thought I wasn't capable of much better than a 6:00 third mile which would give me 17:41 for 3, 19 seconds under 6:00 pace for about a 18:18. Finally I quit thinking and just focused on keeping up with the younger guy in front of me. He would gain a few yards, but I was able to pull back up to him each time. We hit the mile 3 split at 17:22 for a 5:41 3rd mile. When I heard the 3-mile split well back in the 17s (the split caller was doing a great job, calling out the times really loud), I knew I had to lay it all out for the last 0.11. I couldn't believe the clock was still ticking in the 17s! I passed the young guy in front of me and edged him out at the finish by 0.3 seconds. I finally reached one of my goals for this Spring.
Gun Time 17:57.9, chip 17:56.1
Purdy Points 573
WAVA 79.1%
WMA 80.3%
I sure hope the third mile wasn't short.
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