Yesterday was the psuedo-official start of the race season with the Cherry Creek Sneak. I've run the Sneak several times and I've always had a fun time and this weekend was no exception. The main event at the Sneak is a 5 mile run through the Cherry Creek shopping district. The course has changed a little since I last ran it with the hill on York St being removed.
The sub-30 runners were given a five minute head start and then the rest of us were off. I lined up a few rows back from the start and was off and up to pace pretty quickly. My goal for the race was to hold 6:20, maybe a little below. That's my goal pace for the Loveland and Boulder triathlons and I wanted to see how my training is going.
I went through the first two miles around 12:06 and decided to pull back just a bit but not too much. Mile 2 saw the only climb and it wasn't really much. There was a slight breeze from the south so I pulled up behind a bigger runner for a little wind protection. Miles 3 and 4 are nice straight stretches down and back on Speer. Just when you're getting close to the finish line, you take a left and head into the shopping district, so close yet almost a mile to go. I tried to pass a couple people as we wove around the streets of North Cherry Creek but I wasn't able to get away. The last mile was a series of pass and be passed. There wasn't really a chance to sprint for the line. When you came around the last corner, you were twenty yards from the finish line.
Overall, it was a great race and things are looking good for the 2008 season. I finished fifth out of 205 in my age group and 32nd out of 3800 overall. My splits were pretty consistant according to the Garmin. I had it set to take 500 meter splits and they were around 1:50 - 1:55 with one at 2:15 and one at 1:40.
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