I haven't raced a race in a very long time. On the way to the race I decided that I would use this as a fitness test. I devised a pacing plan but forgot my watch so had to just run by feel. This is a fairly non-competitive race so as we started I was up towards the front. The lead pack was within sight the entire time. I tried to maintain a comfortably hard pace throughout the race. At 2 mile mark, I started to push a little harder and had a small taste of what 5k's are supposed to feel like. Didn't really push as hard as I could but it wasn't comfortable. Finished in 20:35 which is my slowest 5k. Winner was 19:40 so this was a very winnable race. I was 2 minutes slower than I usually run this course. I am 15 pounds over my ideal race weight which accounts for 1:30 and the other 0:30 is from not being in race mode. The time is exactly where I thought it would be - just not where I wanted it to be.
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