I finally won that elusive coffee mug. I wasn't sure what I had in me today other than some lingering chest congestion, but fortunately it wasn't enough to slow me down today. I warmed up with 1.25 miles easy shortly before the race started. Lined up as best I could near the front, but people kept on getting in front of me. Oh well, just make the best of it I thought. The gun went off and I found myself trying to find an opening. It was better this year than last year because they broke up the 5k into two races, a competitive race and a fun run. So, this helped a lot but there were still lots of people who weren't lined up correctly. The first mile felt good, hard but good. It didn't seem like I was going that fast but I finished it in 6:08. I thought that was not a bad pace and maybe I could hold it longer. The next mile felt a lot harder and I saw my pace dropping and it was a battle to keep it from dropping too far. The air was cold and slightly burned my lungs. 2nd mile finished in 6:24. At the start of the 3rd mile my pace was back up and I was feeling good since there was just one mile to go. I was back at a 6:00 pace but then the hill came along. I was holding my pace well at first but by the time I reached the top I had slowed back down to 6:25. I recovered slightly and finished the last mile at 6:20. On the way into the stadium I tried to pass one more guy, I was thinking that I didn't want to miss getting the coffee mug by one person! This thought had helped me throughout the race as I would either pass people or not slow down too much when I felt like slowing down more and have people pass me. I could hear Jenny and the kids cheering for me in the stands. I went through the finish chute and was handed a finisher's card with a #114 on it! So, on the race results I'll be number 114 out of 125 men which ordinarily is not a good thing but is in this case since there were probably a few thousand runners in this race. I then ran the 1 mile race with the boys. Another big race with lots of obstacles (strollers, walkers, etc.) but still lots of fun. Andy finished ahead of us in 8:34 and Noah and I finished in 8:55. We grabbed some snacks and the boys and I went up to the stands to wait for Jenny. She finished in 51:15, a new 10K PR for her! ***Update - official results are posted now, I was actually #113 with a time of 19:40, still a 6 second PR on a harder course than my previous PR. Another PR chance coming up on a very flat and straight out and back course at Starkey park :)
So, here's my coffee mug below, along with the really nice tech shirts they gave out this year.
| 