So, grasshopper is learning! Today was a delicious day to run/race. About 55 at the start with total sunny sky and little wind. Local 5K on a bike path out and back. Total of around 600 runners and walkers I would say. DW also ran this one, so we arrived early together, got the bibs (first chip timed run for her) and split up to warm up. I did my usual two miles and strides and then found some familiar faces to line up with at the start. The local elites went out hard and I tried to hold back a little, but still hit the first half mile around 2:54 for an oopsie, but not too bad. Dialed it back to a more reasonable 3:02 for the second half mile. (Obviously I reset the Garmin for half mile splits). Settled in behind a strong-looking Boston finisher (chatted with him before the race), but his calf tightened up and I passed him around 1.2 miles in. Third half mile was 3:06 as I slowed a bit. After the turnaround (a hairpin set of cones I picked it back up a bit for 3:04. Through two miles in 12:06 I was happy but worried what I had left. Fortunately there was a cross-country runner from a local high school about 50 meters ahead of me that I locked my sights on. Seemed like he was faltering a bit, and I managed to falter a little less with a 3:09. I was fading a bit at this point, but managed a 3:12 from 2.5 to 3 and then picked it up to 6:00 pace for the final .11 split. Couldn't catch the kid, but closed the distance a bit.
Finished ninth overall and third in my age group with a sparkling new PR of . . . 18:48! I knew I had that speed, just wasn't sure if I had 5K pain tolerance at this point, and the weather came through for me today.
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