Getting this report out a little late but better nate than lever. I wanted to have a final race against the more serious runners and what better way than the final LDR circuit race? I warmed up a few miles down the avenue road and thought about trying to run 18:00 or so, I thought 18:30 was possible. I felt pretty good and was ready to run. At the start I saw Kyle Perry standing about 4 rows back and I asked him, "Aren't you going to win this race?" I was surprised by his humility and openness, I got to talk with him for a while afterward and he's a great guy, a runner who's enjoying what life has to offer, and not condescending considering he's in another league to most runners. I hope he can find joy in his semi-professional status. We started off down the hill and I didn't realize it was going to be a slope for so long but I got into my pace, trying to feel like I'm racing, which I certainly was since I first passed Mel, a surprise, and then his son Dakota, a pleasant surprise, and then Bill Cobler, a huge surprise but also anticlimactic. I've been wanting to beat Bill for 5 years, I know he's gotten a little slower and I've gotten faster, but to pass him in the first 1/2 mile is like achieving a huge goal without any effort. In any case I passed him and set my sights on Zak followed by Adam followed by Devra, a woman who I didn't quite go with in the 1st mile and tried to catch later, but she's a real runner. We hit the steep block hill and as we cruised downhill and set back for home I realized how uphill it now was, the nice slope at the first part of the race was now hard but I was enjoying that because I always try to run the last half faster (at least feeling like I do) and the uphill was just another obstacle to overcome. I continued on, trying to enjoy the pain and slowly catch Devra, who was slowly catching Adam. I ran my cooldown with Adam, and really enjoyed it, I mistook him for another runner I'd seen ahead of me bfore, particularly because he acted exactly like I thought he would. When Devra caught him I figured he'd take off since I thought he'd be really strong the last mile, and he was. They both caught Zak and left me to catch him too, which I did. In the last moments of a race when you're tired and you start to think complacent thoughts, it's always nice to try to catch that one last person, and Zak was my guy. I caught him and latched on, I think even running even with him a little, but he was a trooper and wasn't about to be eaten up just yet. I made an ignorant error in not knowing that the finish was not where the start was so I was saving myself for an uphill sprint. When we passed the 3 mile mark in 17:50 there wasn't much race left so when I started to spring Zak was ready, I kept pace with him and felt like I was even gaining on him really close to the end but somewhat satisfactorily finished right behind him and patted his back, he ran a good race. I was happy with my time knowing that this wasn't a flat race and that I can compare it to my previous fastest 5K of 3 years ago which was flat, where I ran the exact same time. I feel I'm progressing nicely. Ready to roll and maybe finally have a winter base.
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