Shamrock 15k

This one starts with the snow. If you hadn't heard, Ohio had a little snow yesterday. Between"18-"27. The scene was surreal. The city was buried when I woke. The air was cold but the sun was shining. Hope was alive. The city was clearing the snow and the coffee shop was once again open.
I was dressed to run in the blizzard if it should return. I had five layers to keep me warm. I had a choice of foot wear and socks. two layers of gloves, Sun glasses and my Nike storm fit suit. I was ready for the worst.
After coffee I caught a bus and headed downtown. The RTA was right on schedule. Zac and Nichole were also right on time. I never had to stay outside for long periods.
As we headed south toward the race I found the car to be quite warm. I also realized that I had forgotten any water. I was parched and overdressed. Whoops.
Just as we did last year, we missed the turn to the race. So just as we did last year we were running late. I ran inside registered took care of bidness and chose my race wear. Road shoes, tights, two layers and a shell.
We hung with Bbop, drank some gateraid, and lined up at the starting line. The start was signald, and we ran.
Mile 1- 8:04
Mile two 16:40 uh-oh
Water table....take it in, walk, don't splash.
I was able to stay within an 8:20 minute mile 'till we hit the hill. Once we hit the hill, I began to really heat up. The group I had been running with began to pull away. I continued to exert a strong steady effort, but I was way to warm
In the second half I ran a coupl of miles with Chris Phillips of CTC. The last time we talked a lot was at Mountaineer on the bike. Since then we have both finished our first Ironman and signed up for IMKY. We talked for a bit. It helped me to pace with him. I was able to steady my pace again. At mile seven he picked up the pace and pulled ahead. I stuck with the pace established.
I finished up with a 1:26.06. Not my best time on this course. :10 slower than last year.
The weather was much improved from yesterday. The course was clear.
My mistakes:

1. Poor pre race hydration
2. Overdressed
3. Thursday tempo run was a bad idea

These are issues I can do something about. So I will pay better attention to these things in the future.
Overall I felt happy with the effort. This is a tough race physically. My goal was to run hard, but not to hard. I accomplished that.

Congrats to Bbop on his AG glory. Monica and Nichole also had good races.

It was nice to get out for a hard run in the sunshine after a week that included a huge ice storm and a major blizzard.

My base is not being built with the same haste as it was last year. My speed is down. But I feel as though it is much more stable. I intend to peak August 31st.