The story really starts with the 2008 edition of the race, where I finished 2nd to Matt Carpenter by about 5 minutes. After the 2007 race Matt analyzed his preparation for the race and came up with several things he needed to change in preparation for the 2008 race. He did, and he was prepared and ready. I knew he’d be more ready in 2008, yet somehow I thought I beat him before, I’ll beat him again. I should know by now that this kind of mindset doesn’t win big races. So after the 2008 race I tried to figure out what I needed to change to be ready this year. I came up with 4 things:1) Don’t focus on and run a marathon earlier in the fall.
2) Don’t run your long training runs too hard
3) More milage
4) More uphills / downhills
The training went well and as the race approached I felt I was in the best shape for this race so far, ready for a course record. Given the list of runners who were listed in the published registration, and those who told me at one point or another of their intent to compete, I thought it might be necessary to run a CR just to be “in the money” (top 3).
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