Had I known I was going to podium today I would have taken this race more seriously. I ran my usual 12 plus long run yesterday, and thus was a little less than race ready today. I usually rest on Monday, but since we had a holiday weekend and a fun race to attend I decided to throw my hat in. I ended up placing third in my age division with a slower time than my last 5K of 19:39 where I placed 9th. Today at 20:28 I placed third. The winner of my division clocked a time of 19:36, which is just 3 seconds faster than my PR about 8 weeks ago. Had I known I would have a shot at the top spot I might have played this out a little bit differently. Such as not running 13 miles the day before and having a few beers the night before.
All things considered I was really excited to see my third place age division finish. Alisha took Ty in the jogging stroller so that he could participate in his first race. She ran it with her friend Amy who also had her son Gavin in the stroller. My brother Dalton and his fiance Melina showed up and ran their first 5k. Somehow Alisha and Amy finished a few seconds before Dalton and Melina even thought the stroller 5k started a full ten minutes after the general 5k. I wanted to give Dalton a hard time, but it was his first race and he did not train at all. Still I wonder how they were passed by Alisha and Amy. I also saw our friends Scott and Amber. Scott ran with this boys in the fun run. I saw my high school friend Maribeth during the race but I did not get to talk to her after.
During the final three fourths of a mile I came up behind a young kid. He was probably about 11 years old. I told myself that I could not be beaten by such a young person so I dug a little deeper and passed him. Then about a quarter mile later a woman spectator shouted from the sideline, "keep it up, your the first little guy!" When I realized she wasn't talking to me, I knew the kid must have still been right on my heels. At about this time a guy a few tenths of a mile ahead of me stopped to lean over and hurl chunks all over the road. He promptly straightened back out and took off for the finish line staying ahead of me all the while. It was just a few seconds after this that the 11 year old boy passed me. And when I say passed me he was really moving fast. He took me a little off guard. I had to dig real deep to keep up with him. I was determined not to let him beat me. We both struggled to be the first to the finish line, and in doing so passed two other racers. He ended up beating me to the finish by milliseconds, but had he not been there to make a break for it I would not have passed the two other racers near the end. I had a really good time. My Garmin time says 21:03 because I always forget to stop my watch at the finish line of a race.
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