Race Report: Braves Country 5k

Stats/Goals
Distance: 5 km
Location: Turner Field, Atlanta, GA
Current PR:  20:42 (February 2013, Preservation 5k, Savannah, GA)
90% Goal: 21:30
50% Goal: 20:42
10% Goal: 20:00

Result: 20:23 (http://tinyurl.com/orn7274)
Mile Splits: 5:55, 6:46, 6:58 (from GPS)

Summary
Getting PRs is always nice.  I'm not sure that I left much time on the course today, but the biggest thing I came away from today is that I know I can run sub-20.  I just need to go out and do it.

Pre-Race
Lots of water last night.  Clif bar when I woke up at 5:00.  Gatorade and banana while waiting for the race to start.  Nutrition was not an issue.

Seeing the other run leads, coaches, and trainees was very energizing.  Only ran about a half mile in my warm-up, but I ran it hard.

Race
The first mile was, in a word, fast.  The course clock said 6.  My watch said 5:55.  Either way, That was about 20-25 seconds too fast and I paid for it in the second half.  I wanted to stop on every uphill for the last half of the course.  I dialed it back some, but pushed through.

The course was a lot hillier than I expected from looking at elevation maps.  No big hills, just your standard Atlanta rolling hills.  Conditions were also very humid.  It didn't get very warm until after the race, but it was still uncomfortably sticky during the race.

Post Race
3-4 of our run leads snagged age group awards.  Not a lot of PRs in that group, but a good time was had.  Lots of PRs from our trainees.  I tried to track down Angelina to run her in, but instead got snagged to do an interview for some local-access show.  She rocked OUT in her run and was able to go a lot faster than she had planned.

Conclusion
I don't think it's possible to be disappointed by a PR, but I think today was close.  I've been knocking on the door of 20 minutes for a while now (3 races under 21 minutes).  Granted, the other two races were both very flat and ideal conditions.  Dropping 19 seconds in a hot and hilly race is awesome.  I'm probably too hard on myself, but if I'm not being my worst critic, then I won't get any better.