Veterans Day 10k(The Big One)

So I finally reached the race I had been gearing up for the past 3 months. At some point, I decided I would set a goal of trying to pr in the 10k. This was back when I was running in the 31:40s and I am glad I gave myself that challenge.
Well, I ended up not hitting a pr but I am really happy with how things went. I ran 30:33 this morning for 4th place. I did some research afterwards and the winner finished 6th in the 5k at the 2000 Olympic, while 3rd place has run 2:10 for the marathon...so needless to say I am happy with 4th place.
The race was kind of weird because there was pack of 7 people for the first 3 miles. I didnt know it was 7 until afterwards because I was leading and I never looked back during the race to see what was going on behind me. I was expecting it to go out flying but it did not because the guy who I was expecting to win brought some friends down with him from NY and they ended up working together. I actually felt great for the first few miles and then I started to get a little nervous about 2.5 miles in with all the footsteps I heard; at the same time the feeling great went away at this point and there was an unknown runner beside me. I decided to push a little bit to kill my nerves and test the unknown guy. I could tell a gap opened up from looking at the shadows on the ground, but it didnt take long for the out of towners to come around me. They opened a gap which took me about a mile to close down and then they made another move that was too much for me to handle.
The last 1.5 miles that I ran by myself were intense. I was on the verge of blowing up the entire time. I would start breathing really hard and it would take some talking to myself to control my breathing. I am happy that I stayed as relaxed as I could and kept the effort up until the finish.

Up next is a two week break and then I begin phase 1 of 4 which leads me to either Penn Relays or Stanford in late April or early May.