Went to bed with a very slight sore throat, and it didn't improve much with a lot of sleep...might have even gotten a tad worse. Don't think it should effect me too much today, but certainly worth noting. Lunch @1:25pm. Long drive to La Crosse, but we made it. Certainly a warmer one out there this evening. Don't know exacts, but around 74 degrees, 6 mph winds. and dusk. WU was 2.85 miles in 19:57. Felt fine on this. Cardio felt better as it progressed. Honestly can't entirely if or how much the sore throat affected me. Legs getting a little achy near the end of the race and especially after may have been the most noticeable thing. Last time I wanted to sit down so badly after a race was Augie Invite this year. Damn the heat! Simply just laid, stretched out on the turf for a minute or two before starting the CD. Tangent aside, did a normal active with about four strides. K splits were: 3:01.4, 2:58.9, 3:05.3, 3:09.0, 3:11.3. Simply looking at these splits will tell you how the race went. First K felt super easy...almost too easy. Was kind of rearing to pick up the pace. Rode along with Turtle for the first two K with Crispy hanging right behind. Sat behind in second until 1700 when Turtle said 'give me some help up here', so I passed him on the straightaway and lead for a lap. Did this again around 2300m. It was around this point that the pacing started to go awry. By the time I got up alone in the front, I simply couldn't stay up on the necessary pace and with no one to chase or hold onto, the motivation was lacking. It's incredible how much easier it is to grind when you're actually racing. Additionally, at the halfway point, the heat started to hit and I became zapped. The last 2K of this bad boy hurt, especially since with a mile to go, I pretty much realized all hope was lost. Crispy whipped by with 300 to go. Final time was 15:26.25. Died hard that last portion since I came through the 3200 the same time I did at conference (9:41) and managed to run 17.5 second slower. All in all, good to get experience running past conference, but in terms of last chance experiences, pretty let down. Would've liked to see things a bit more hype...maybe NCC if it comes down to it next year. Run to be under the lights though. A bit over two miles in 16:00 for the cool down. Very glad Plumb and Crispy convinced me to run on the turf with them for this. Low and slow, but good conversation. One final CD on the season and it was a great one. Some very brief stretching in Culver's afterwards. NB flats @ 443.9 miles.