faster with age

     This race is put on every year by the hospital in Preston. It was very close to home and free and even has good food at the end. Can't pass that up. There was about 188 people total that showed up but a lot of them were kids doing the bike ride. One of the local guys that can beat me was injured and was there to watch his wife and the other one wasn't there. The High School track stars got home from state in Boise that morning at four AM so none of them showed although the injued guy there to watch his wife run is the teams athletic trainer and he said Colby Wilson [who just broke the Idaho State High School record the day before in the 3200  running 9:20] might be there but he didn't show either. So that set the stage for a possible win for me. They let the bikes go first then the runners. The first 100 yards I had to get past the sprinting kids then I led the rest of the way. I think I passed 80 % of the bicycles along the way. This is a loop course and after 3/4 of the first mile I was running comfortably at 5:57 pace [according to the 1 mile lap pace setting on my Garmin]. Then I hit the biggest hill on the course [ you actually lose about 75 feet crossing a ravine Then you climb back up the other side. I guess I lost some momentum at that point because I finished the first mile in 6:12. The route turned north and I looked back and I had about 100m on the next two runners. The next stretch  was into a bit of a breeze. I always seem to have a poor 2nd mile anyway and slowed to 6:25. When we turned the next corner I looked back and saw that one of the next runners had gained a bit on me. I finished mile 2 in 6:23 and started to pick up the pace. I ran the final mile [.88 on my Garmin] in 5:08 [5:50 pace] to finish first in 17:43 gapping the next two runners by a lot more on that last mile. I'd love to have that time on a full distance 5k . I like my time starting with 17 something but that will have to wait. I've measure this course with my bike computer which is very accurate and have gotten  2.9 for distance. My Garmin said 2.88 this time.