This year was my first time running the Newnan's Lake 15k organized by Lloyd Clarke Sports. The course is relatively flat (there are a number of long gradual inclines) but generally is known to be a good place to get a fast time! The weather is almost always cool like it was for the race in January. We had temps in the 40s at the start and a bunch of runners ran PRs (Personal Records). To top it off, the weather warmed up nicely for the awards ceremony. It's a great time of year to be racing in Florida.

Going into the race I was hoping to run under an hour for the 15k. For some reason I had "6:22 per mile" in my head as the pace I needed to hit that time. I became a bit discouraged during the race because my splits were slow and every time I clocked a 6:30+ mile I knew I was falling further and further behind. I pushed miles 6 and 7 with a 6:17 and 6:18 and then did my best to hold on. Meredith DeFranco passed me on her way to win 1st place female and I tried to catch her but she was on a mission and ran fast and strong to the end.

When I caught my first glimpse of the finish clock it read 59:50, so I sprinted like crazy, finishing just under an hour at 59:57. That works out to 6:26 per mile. I didn't quite break into the overall awards but I did win my age group and feel great about my race performance.

This is most likely a lifetime PR for me since I didn't race these longer distances when I was younger.



Newnan's Lake itself provided beautiful scenery:



Official results by Half-Mile Timing posted here: http://www.halfmiletiming.com/Datafil...3/Results/