High miles gave me the confidence to stay with a runner who I knew was faster than me in my 20:03 effort last month. Now I am going to have the confidence to stay with a guy who ran a 19:35 recently. At least that is the plan. He tends to go out in the 1st mile in around 6:20-6:25 which would be perfect for me. I ran a mile this morning and my leg feels alot better so hoping for mid 60s with lower humidity for my race in 2 days. I just keep saying this is it I am breaking 20 this weekend. I believe it. I am not going to gun it like a madman but will try to go just ahead of sub 20 pace through the 1st 2 miles even if it feels like I cannot keep that pace up. The weather forecast is calling for 71 degrees with 84% humidity with winds at 11 mph at 8:30 am on Saturday. That could change though. I made the mistake my last race of thinking temps would be 90 and worried all day...a storm dropped temp to 71 at race time with 70% humidity but I think I had already wasted energy worrying about something I cannot control and that cost me for a time of 20:37.

84% humidity sounds high...but I doubt they can forecast humidity 2 days in advance so I will not worry.

OldXCGuy...I am fine thanks...I ran 5 miles on the treadmill last night and felt super. No pain at all. I felt so good I ran a mile more than I planned. I am now at 165 miles for June. Here are my years mileage so far:

January 126 February 142 March 171 April 172 May 186 June (165)

Last year I peaked around 155 miles a month so I am fitter this year on the heels of a few 20:20s efforts last year. The morning races yielded better times for me last year and tomorrow is my 1st morning race this year so I am looking forward to the results. Temp forecast for racetime at 71 with 85% humidity....I ran a 5k last year in similar conditions and posted a 20:22 so I am not worried about the weather anymore.

I remember Kudzu posting about wanting to go out with the leaders in 5ks for the 1st mile and see what happens. After mulling it over he tried it in a race (maybe it was a 5 mile race I cant remember) but he went out way too fast purposefully in about 5:55 on mile 1....then he ran the next couple miles hard but his heart rate was sky high so it limited his ability to go fast...I think he slowed to 6:45 or so then the last 2 miles were even slower. I remember that story and wonder if one goes out too fast that the heart rate hits 90-95% too fast and limits your speed on the final miles. A sub 20 is a balancing act it seems to me but I know I have been too conservative in the past in the opening mile so I would like to go 6:20s tomorrow for the opener.

I ate a pretty big supper at 7 last night so I wasn't very hungry this morning. I slept good with about 7.5 hours sleep and awoke at 6:20. Ate a banana then took a shower and got dressed for the race. It was 70 degrees and pretty muggy at 90% humidity but todays course was one of the fastest and i had circled it on the calendar since January so I was going to try to break 20 today.

I ran 1.3 miles slow warmup at 8 am (1/2 hour before the race) and fekt okay though it would be nice if the temp was 10 degrees cooler. I then ran 3 minutes at race pace finishing up about 22 minutes before race start. Then I got in my car and got my racing flats on and chip. I took some ice from my cooler and held it to my chest to cool off. I took no vivarin today. I was hoping that my heart rate would be lower on mile one and that would help me to a faster start.

Right at the start lineup I saw Gerard Wilbrink...who had run 19:35 a week or two ago..I told him I was going to pace behind him if thats okay...he said yes...I said "Are you going to try to break 20?" and he said "yes" and mentioned his last race he had splits of 6:18, 6:20, 6:22 which was the perfect race for him. That sounded pretty fast but I was glad he was there. Gerard was standing by another guy - about 45-50 years old who was also going to try to run with Gerard. They pointed to a short 12 year old boy in yellow shorts near the start line and said he was also a 20 minute runner. So I had lots of targets.

Well I felt decent and hoped that I could keep the pace in the humidity. The starting horn went off and I started at a nice clip...not too fast or slow...and watched a bunch of runners go around me quickly. I saw the youngster in yellow shorts quickly racing out about 6 seconds ahead of me but did not see Gerard yet so I thought I was good for pace. After about 90 seconds Gerard passed me on the left. I quickly filled in behind him.... somehow another masters women got in between us shortly thereafter so it was clear there are a lot of runners who like to pace. Gerard had a good clip but it was nothing I couldn't handle....around the 4 minute mark he threw in a surge and got a few seconds lead on me. I was in a group of about 6 or 7 runners and I could not make my way back to him so I was concerned. I finally concentrated and reeled Gerard back in over a stretch of a couple hundred yards. It felt like we were going a little slower than 20 minute pace so I was a little worried but I had to trust Gerard.

Then I saw the mile mark approaching....I was very happy to hit the mile mark in 6:18...a new personal best for the 1st mile of a 5k race....I am 9 seconds ahead of sub 20 I thought....nice start...but the 2nd mile hurts and I knew I was going to have to get to 2 miles in sub 13 to have a shot...and knew the long uphill would slow me down soon. I tried to keep the same pace but as I said I knew I would slow some on mile 2...at about the 9 minute mark we hit the uphill....I caught Gerard as he was starting to have some trouble....I passed him about a quarter way up the hill and he said "your on your own now" and I gave him the thumbs up and said "thanks"....I latched on to a 40 year old runner who I knew was about a 20 minute pace guy and went up the hill smoothly. I was tiring but had run much steeper hills last week and knew I would gain a second wind on the way down the hill.....so I got to the top.....grabbed a cup of water for the 1st time this year and tossed it into my face....then I ran the downhill hard and went passed my 40 year old pacer.

I thought I was keeping a good clip and thought I would be under 13 at 2 miles....I saw the 2 mile mark coming and continued to run hard to try to get as far under 13 as I could to give me hope for the last 1.1 mile...I was again very pleased to hit 2 miles in 12:48! A 2 mile record by 13 seconds. Now the wheels were turning in my head though I knew I shouldn't think it just is the way I am..I was trying to figure how fast I needed to run mile 3...It would have to be about 6:35 which seems quite doable but I was leaving nothing to chance today. I remembered how I said I would run the last mile like the devil was chasing me...I kept thinking I need to put this to bed today so I don't have to train so hard anymore. Kill myself today so I won't have to hurt so much tomorrow. I hit 16 minutes and I must passed the young kid with yellow shorts as a volunteer said "nice job you are a little guy your not supposed to be this far up in the race" . I was running much too fast now...Desire is what propelled me...I wanted to get it over with.....17 minutes....I don't remember much of anything really. At around 17:30 I think I knew I had sub 20 for the 1st time....I wanted to get as far under 20 as I could since the race was using chip time....leave no doubt....and also I thought I am not going to want to run this fast again for a Long time so I might as well bury my old record by as much as possible.

I came to the last quarter mile and I was close to 18 minutes so it was pretty much official as long as I didn't pass out on the course.A girl was leading me by about 10 seconds but she was pretty strong. I drove towards the finish and saw the clock in the 19:20s! I didn't have much left at this point but came across the line in a final time of 19:35! Unbelievable! The camcorder was there ... my sister in law taped my finish I was so pumped! I was ready to do my somersault when a race volunteer asked for my chip so I had to wait to do my gymnastics until I got my chip off!

My sister in law taped the finish so I am going to get this sucker on youtube when I open an account there!

Amazing....Worth every mile and all the sweat and hours I trained the past 4 years!

I was 1st in my age group...last year I would have been 7th in my AG at this pace...amazing how I mailed it in as far as placing and got a 1st place AG award for the 1st time. Anyhow I could have just as easily run a 20:35 as a 19:35 today....I didn't like running this fast but if you want it enough you can do it. Just pick the course and pace behind someone you know is a little faster. But I had the confidence from 104 miles in 2 weeks before the race. I had the desire to put this one to bed...get it over with...God I am so glad thats over!!!!!

To tell the truth I didn't hammer the finish because I knew I had sub 20 in the bag and wanted to finish without the gut busting feeling in my stomach. The entire race hurt but the finish felt good. Watching the runners who finished ahead of me they were almost all dog tired where I looked like I was out for a Sunday jog - believe me I was hurting for much of the race but it was only a dull ache so dealt with it for a brief 19 and a half minutes. Believe me its worth the small time of pain for the reward at the end.

Since I am being honest at the finish I was getting ready to do a somersault right in front of the camera but a volunteer stopped me and said "Can I help you get your chip off?" so I had to postpone the celebration. Darn! Thats okay though...I will save the whooping for when I break 19 perhaps... there were 470 runners...I lined up in about row 3 or 4....I always do that...but people always start out too fast and I am about in 50th place by 1/4 mile. I will stick around and post some more. I don't know if it will be easy or hard to go sub 20 again. I didn't run today as a reward but I will be back at it tomorrow.