The heat left town temporarily, so it was in the lower 60s when I left the house. Ran to the park and did a 2 mile warm up with a few strides and quick drills. Lined up behind the young, shirtless guys in the front. The start is at the zoo and it takes a hard left. I thought we would be on the sidewalk, but we had the road to ourselves (not too shabby). You hit the zoo entrance after taking another left. They had some sprinklers on so the walkway was soaked (hope no one slipped). Mile 1 is slightly downhill and I tried to get out of the pack of people: 6:21 a PR in the mile because I never run it. It was about .03 off by my watch. I tried to relax and pay attention to my breathing, which seemed about end-of-tempo effort or a bit higher. Mile 2 was 6:24 (also a 1 mile and 2 mile PR). I started to feel it, but it's a 5k and you run at high effort the whole time. Got back to the other side of the zoo around 2.5 and ran back down the first straightaway and back through the zoo where the wet sidewalks were. I tried to beat a few younger guys just before the finish, but I kicked too early and they went by me. I did have a good chuckle as the two of them went at it. I saw 19:upper teens on the clock so I was plenty ahead of schedule (even though I always say I may not win the race but no one passes me in the final kickdown). Mile 3 was 6:22 (another mile PR and 3 mile PR). The partial (short) split was 27.4 for .07. Another short course, unless my watch is off. Gun time was 19:27, but my watch reads 19:34 a pretty good difference. Oh well. Watch pace puts me around 19:45-19:50 for the full distance so I got my A+ goal. Good substitute for what would have been tomorrow's 3 x 1 mile workout, which would have been slower and not as fun as racing.
4.1 miles home. Off to the farmer's market. Darn good Saturday.
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