2011 Runner's Choice 20K

I ran to the race again this year from home so had a 5.4 mile warm-up in 50 min.   I wasn't feeling that energetic so I was trying to figure out my goal for the run.  Sometimes I am not feeling it and run well but I had my doubts since my legs felt so heavy.  We still had some snow and ice to deal with on the shoulder of the race course and the sidewalks were not clear so had to run mostly on the road.  We had 26 in the 20K and 16 in the 10K. For the 20K we run the course twice. I lined up near the front and was hoping the speedy runners would help me get off to a fast start.   I caught up to Hugh after about 1.5 miles.  One guy running the 10K passed me before the turnaround point.   I finished the first 10K in 46:25 which is very slow for me.  I wasn't breathing hard but legs just felt depleted and no energy. 

I headed out for the second 10K and Kurt K. wasn't far behind.  He passed me before the turn around point.  Dan H. was not far behind me.  I ran the second 10K in 47:31.  I couldn't believe that I actually slowed down.  Total time was 1:33:56, a personal worst by 6 minutes, and finished 6th of 26.  After finishing, I was really hungry.  I ate 3 donuts, a banana, and a hot chocolate.  I had originally planned to run back home but decided to quit for the day. Then went to breakfast and had a bagel eggwich and chocolate milk.  I am not sure if I am over trained or if I just didn't get enough food.  I don't usually expect to run race pace for this event, but pace was way slower than I should be running.  I really can't blame my sciatica either since I just felt a little tight and not too sore while running.