Race Report: Seattl's Best 15K

Yesterday I ran the Seattle's Best 15K for the third year in a row.  The first year I ran I placed 2nd, last year I placed 1st, and this year I placed 5th.  I can't be too bummed, though - I ran just 20sec slower than I did last year.  The field was good! 

The race started at 7:30am and the field wasn't huge (I'd guess less than 500 people).  This year the race organizers introduced a new distance - the 10K - to be run in addition to the 15K.  The 15K had an extra out and back tacked on but the rest of the course was the same - around lake Union.  For the 10K, the organizers also had a costume contest which made the starting line entertaining (the man who started next to me was wearing hot pink women's running shorts with a neon green tank top).  When the race started I immediately went out too fast clocking a sub 6:30 for my first mile.  After that I fell off into the 7s and wound up averaging a sub 7 for the total 15K.  From going out too fast I was wrecked from mile 3 to mile 6 - then somehow I got a second wind.  Towards miles 7, 8, and 9 I was ready to be done - I knew if I finished up fast enough I'd be in time to see the boys' soccer game start and I was motivated to kick it into higher gear for the remaining distance.

All in, it was a fun race as usual.  I like either a bigger field or trails, I think, though - something about the masses or the trees motivates me a bit more.