First CX race of the year

The first cross race of the season always hurts more than I remember. I was a little late to the start line and had to start in the third row. At least the two people in front of me were really fast and I still got a good start. After two brutal laps, six of us (Pete Lopinto, Danny Sommerhill, Wil Frishcorn, Colby Pierce, Brady Capeous and I) had a big gap on the rest of the field. Brady was bunny hopping the barriers and putting some time on us during the first half of the race but eventually ran out of steam and ran like the rest of us. With 20 minutes to go Colby and Danny were off the front by themselves and I was alone in third. Then all of a sudden my whole chest started to tighten up and I couldn't take a full breath. For the next lap I struggled just to breath while trying to separate the spinning of my legs from my breathing. Although it really hurt my breath came back around and I had only lost one spot. I managed to hang on for fourth but Pete was getting close at the end. Not bad considering I almost had to drop out. Now I just have to recover by Wednesday for the big race in Vegas.