Woke up nice and early, drank some magic Chia drinks and then went to the race. I saw Henry running like a mile away from where the race was so I jumped out and ran with him to warm up. Turns out he did like a 2-3 mile warmup or something.. Crazy kid. Anyways the race started and Paul jumped out in front and ran with Ben Vanbeekum and some other kid and I think Paul's cousin was also up there at the start. Henry was behind them and then there was some old dude and me. Henry was chatting with people because he likes to frustrate the competition, and then he looked around and couldn't find me so then he like jogged in place and let me catch up. What a nice guy. We passed the old dude before we turned and ran up the hill, and then about halfway up we passed Paul's cousin. Paul had fallen back a bit from Ben and the other guy (some 24 year old from ogden) and me and Henry reeled him in up the hill. We caught Paul at the very top of the hill (our first mile was 5:58 and ended at the top of that hill) and I told him to come with us but I'm not sure if he heard me in his race mode.. Anyways he didn't quite come with us because I didn't see him for the rest of the race, but he didn't finish far behind us either so he either had a really good kick or he did come with but he just chilled right behind us. Anyways, me and Henry were switching off the lead back and forth for the next mile, and I think he was being nice trying to let me draft off of him except if somebody passes me I mentally don't handle it all that well and I either pass them back immediately or they lose me and I break.. So naturally I would have to pull up next to him every time he took the lead. We ran like this for about 1.25 miles and then he said something that I didn't quite catch.. But in my mind I assumed it was something like "seeya at the finish" and I was expecting him to take off. So I just said "okay" and pulled ahead. I assumed he was right behind me that whole time and that was pushing me really hard because I couldn't lose after that move. With a little over 400 left I looked back very secretly so he wouldn't know I was scared and I saw a second shadow right behind mine and it was catching me. Plus I could hear footsteps right behind me so at that point I took off at an all out sprint and just prayed I could hold it to the finish. I did and ended in 16:51, which I was really happy with because of the course. My last mile was 5:17. Henry ended up coming in at 17:21, so I think I was either hallucinating or racing a spectator's shadow or something.. I dunno but it was lucky. I ended up 3rd and 1st in my age group, but me and Henry both ghost ran it so we got no awards sadly. Cooled down with Paul afterwards, Henry's knee was hurting so he didn't cool down.
After the race I ran 3 miles home at 7:18 pace then took a nap and partied. That night I did another 6 miles up on the canal road at 6:47 pace.
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