Ran the Striders 5k this morning in the frigid cold. Met Cody and Jon at the packet pick up and ran the course with them before the race to warm up. I'm glad I ran the course first so I was prepared for what was in store. Lined up at the start in just shorts and a long sleeve which may have been a mistake. My legs were very cold for a lot of the race. I didn't have a lot of expectations for this race but was looking forward to it to see where my fitness is. I have a million excuses why I didn't feel race ready (poor night's sleep, kids are sick, hamstring injury, cold temps, going through a divorce) but I always say that once you toe the line, you have to give it all that you have. The pace was pretty slow for everybody from the start. I wasn't too far off the lead pack through the first mile (6:15) and didn't feel like I was really pushing it. It was definitely not 5k effort. I fell asleep during the second mile (6:35) and had a hard time finding the desire to make it hurt. I finally woke up during the third mile but still didn't put in the effort that I should have (5:55). Ran the last 0.1 at 5:24 pace and finished in 19:15 (unofficial). I have no idea what my place was but am guessing that it was around 15th. My finishing time is about what I expected based on the difficulty of the course but my effort was definitely lacking - I feel like I could have gone under 19:00 if I were more mentally prepared. I guess this is to be expected for the first race of the season and after not running any speed workouts in 3 months. Cooled down by running the course backwards with Cody, Jon and Chad. Update: Results are up and it has me finishing in 10th place overall and 3rd in my age group (beat by Chad and Walter - I guess that it's ok to lose to fellow bloggers). They show my final time as 19:33. I can understand my Garmin showing the wrong distance but how could the time be off by 15 seconds?
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