[SteelBlue]

It's a race with a long history in Southern Oregon (Medford) and this will be my first time running it even though I grew up near that area. I've been training at about an 8min/mile pace and should be able to easily hold that throughout the race. I've never raced further than 6 miles and so I'm not at all sure how to pace this thing. I'm afraid if I drop too much below 8min/mile in the beginning I may have nothing left at the end. In short, I have little idea what kind of pace I can hold for 10 miles if I try and go fast.

So, my plan is to start at 8 min/mile and build slightly with each mile. For those of you who have raced this distance and longer is this a sound plan? I don't want to suffer from mile one and I'm looking for a negative split on the second half of this thing. Oh and by the way, I looked at last year's results to see where I'd finish in my age group if I just ran the comfortable 1 hour 20 minute pace I've trained at. The aswer? Dead last.