Ran this race with no expectations. I warmed up with 2 miles and felt decent but not great. My legs were just a little dead from yesterday's race. Knew that I had a good chance of placing because of the low turnout. The race was at the Valley Fair mall and was a double out and back course. When the race started I moved to the front and held that position for the first 1/2 mile. A guy passed me and gapped me by about 10 yards. He maintained his lead until 1.25 miles. He started coming back and I passed him a little before we finished the first out and back. On the second out and back I just tried to maintain a decent pace for the rest of the run. After the last turnaround, it took 20 seconds to get to the next runner meaning I had a 40 second lead with 3/4 mile to go. Put it in cruise control and coasted to the finish. I held a steady 6:25 pace for most of the race and got to the 5K mark just under 20 minutes. The course ended up being long and I finished about 40 seconds ahead of second place. Won a cool little Santa trophy. Fun to win a race even if it was a very slow time. | 