Seafair 8k Race Report

You need to carefully hone your super-goal pace.

Race: Seafair Torchlight Run 8k

Result: 25:58 for 12th out of a thousand+ people.

I honestly am not sure why I show up to Seafair each year. It has a trifecta I can't stand- warmth (80+ starting in the evening), inaccurate course (never 8k, never ever!), and a bunch of hills (a kid must have drawn the elevation map!). 

All that said, it was fun. As the saying above states: your super goal pace needs honing. So I went out in 5:12, followed by a 4:56 (garmin splits). I'm not in that sort of shape (5:05 average per mile). I paid for it as all super goal pace racers do. That is because super goal pace isn't really a pace you have any business running. Now or in the immediate future. Trust me. On one of the uphills around mile 2.5 I began to eat it. Legs... Have...no... Power....

Being that we strung out early on, it wasn't like there was a group or pack to sit in with. So I did what any sensible racer would do- I slowed down (not on purpose) and tried to not bury myself on the viaduct. 

Upon climbing the hill to the finish, I immediately told my wife "that was awful, and short, but sub 26! No one needs to know. And I'm not doing this again."

I'll need someone to reference this post in about 11 months when the itch to race Seafair arises yet again.