Bridge2Bridge 10k

Ran a 10k on Sunday. It was my secret race! I didnt tell anyone about it and had a free entry to the race since I paid for my entry last year but could not compete due to IT Band injury. It was the Bridge2Bride....to Brews 10k. We had about 800 total in our race and another 800 I believe signed up for the 8k. This race is one of my favorites because you get to run over the Freemont Bridge. It is the only race in portland where you get to do that. I always feel bad for first timers because everyone anticipates running over the upper deck (but that is too windy) so we have to stick with the lower deck which is still really cool. The thing is when you are running at a sub 6minute pace, you dont really have time to appreciate the view.
I had 15miles scheduled to run on my training schedule. Sooooo......when I met up with my rival Eric, we went for a 4mile ez warm up and ran over the bridge a half hour before the race. That was my chance to enjoy the scenery.
At shortly after 9am we took off. I was right up front from the start, as usual. The first 1.5miles is all uphill as we climb from the Widemere brewery up to the Fremont bridge onramp and then up to the crest of the bridge. Mile 1 was at 5:43...a little slow as expected...but that is a fast uphill mile. Eric broke away off my shoulder after Mile 1 and I knew I didnt have it in my legs to try and go with him (actually I tried and that is how I knew). i just focused on keeping him in sight as he was in second place and my buddy Jay Cech (lightning fast) was in first. At mile 3 I saw fourth place creeping up on me. he was really what kept me going fast and hard. Since Saturday I had rode 2.5hrs and ran 3 off the bike (plus this being my 3rd weekend in a row I was in a race) I found myself tempted multiple times to just ease up and run in easy. But I wanted my podium spot and I was almost there! Fourth place would get right up on my heels anytime there was a downhill or we were on a flat straight. Anytime there was uphill I would gap him by 15 yards. Luckily there was a hill right before the finish and I gapped him again......then there was another downhill and he finished right behind me after I kicked hard to the finish line.
Finished in 34:42, a new 10k pr by almost a minute! And 3rd place......or so I thought.......
Turns out that Darren started 1 second behind me. And his chip time ended up reading .25 seconds faster than mine (even though i out-kicked him to the finish). Oh well, I'll just make sure I beat anyone in future Chip timed events by more than 3 seconds just to give me a cushion.
i'll take my 4th place and new PR and be happy with it since I was running on tired, worn out legs.
i'm actually happy that he was right there because if not for him I would not have been motivated to race that hard. Congrats to Jay Cech for first place in 33:57, and Eric Dolezal for 2nd place in 34:19!!

PS: Got 5 mile cool down in after race with Eric....so even though I didnt completely stick to my training plan, I still got the planned Mileage in on Sunday!