Today was the first day of the Alpha Invite. They went fast to slow in heats, so my race endedd up being the very first one and I had to start warming up as soon as I got there. They lined us up and I was outside of lane 8. They had some trouble starting us out, and had to fire the gun four times. When the gun finally went off I tried to get out fast, and I ended up throwing a lot of elbows battling with the Hillcrest guys in that first 200. We came through the first lap in 70, then I settled in with the walker twins from Bingham, Dakota from East, and one of the Hillcrest guys. It was pretty physical the whole way, and everytime I would try to pass on the inside I would get a couple elbows and almost get thrown off the track. The splits from there on out were just a blur. I came through the mile in 4:50, Which was a little fast and this is where Mike really dropped off. The next four laps were just brutal. I just tried to stick with that little pack through to the end, but with 400 to go the walkers from Bingham took off and with 200 to go Dakota and the Hillcrest guy both got me. I ended up running 9:52, which is a PR and overall I am very happy with this race. Afterwards I did some extra mileage to keep warm.
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