JANUARY 2024 Monthly Running Challenge

The weather was perfect for racing today, about 40° and clear. Luckily, the winds also died down. The race started exactly on time, gear check was easy to find, and though it's a bigish race, it's not so big that there are a lot of lines or hoops to jump through to get to corrals. My plan had been to go about 9:25 to 9:30 for one or two miles as the crowd shook out and I got warmed up before really trying to hit race pace then giving whatever I had left in the last couple miles.
The first mile went to plan but the second was a little faster than intended. This was a really unusual crowd because I felt like I corralled myself appropriately but I was steadily getting passed by people up until the 8th or 9th mile. Usually there's a surge at the beginning and I'll get passed quite a bit for about 3-4 miles max. My splits are a little more erratic than usual but that's largely down to the terrain. Overall the race is fairly flat but there are a lot of little hills and depending on how many of those you have in a given mile it can definitely have an effect. But in general I hit most miles in the middle of the race basically on target and was speeding up towards the last few. Then, one section of the road in mile 11 runs through a neighborhood that had some pretty torn up streets. I tripped and fell hard and it took me a few seconds to get back up. Some passing runners got me up off the ground and made sure I was okay. My hands and knees were stinging pretty badly but I was able to rally and get back on pace and finish strong. Mile 11 also contains a bridge, which is the steepest uphill of the race. You hit it on the way out, but you're fresh and it doesn't have as big of an impact. You definitely noticed the incline that close to the end of the race and I was glad I spent the last week doing some hill work.
My official time is 2:01:56, a 4 minute PR! Almost exactly what I was trained for. I also did a better job with the tangents as my distance ended up at 13.19.
The after-party was good and very appropriate for Southern Louisiana. The post-race food was selections of shrimp/okra or chicken/andouille gumbo, jambalaya, and a vegetarian option that looked like gumbo. And king cake. A live band was playing Cajun music, appropriately named Louisiana Yard Dogs. For those unfamiliar with La slang, Louisiana yard dogs is a nickname for alligators.
Pics of the bling and my injuries below