Had a hard rain last night which dropped the temperature and brought in clouds. That made for the best running weather here in several weeks. Temperature never got above 70F during the race. Even right now as I'm writing at 1pm, its only 77F.
The A&M course is quite scenic. Heads down Chase Road, through a nice green valley, past the railroad museum, through a nice neighborhood before turning back and then doing two laps within campus. It has a steep hill at about 4.1 miles which you then repeat at 5.8 miles. I felt good. Started easy and tried to maintain and finish strong. I was pleased.
Got a chance to try a little race tactics with a local 22 year old, Sam Koudriavtsev. I came even with him at around 3.5 miles and tried to pass him. He was determined to stay with me and hugged the curb. I pushed a little and gapped him on the first hill climb and built a 15 yard lead. That held on the gradual downhill and by the start of the 2nd attempt at the hill was maybe 10 yards. I stayed steady up the steep grade and tried to pick it up as the grade lessened. I could hear him coming so I decided to ease up a little to let him catch me. (I didn't have to ease a whole lot). He pulled even with me and got a few strides ahead right at the crest of the hill. We had only 0.2 miles to go. Thinking he had just expended quite a bit of effort in the pass on the climb , I surged hard past him as I headed down the gradual grade and the finish. My only hope was to break him as I didn't have the legs to keep the pace to the finish. He blew by me 15 seconds later and I was the one broken. He ended up beating me by 6 seconds. I did almost catch Jon (4 seconds ahead of me). That hardly ever happens at shorter distances.
Jon and I ran after the race around campus and through a couple neighborhoods. | 