Starkey Ranch "5k" race report
I ran this race last year, but this year I got to run with both boys. It was a bit warm, low 70's and humid. This year they added a 10K which started at 8:00 and 5k started at 8:30, but 10k was delayed maybe 10 minutes, so they delayed the 5k start accordingly since the time clock would show the time for the 5k and they told the runners to adjust it by 30 minutes.
Andy said he wasn't up for racing and would just do it for fun. There was another track team member from Mitchell HS named Caleb. At the start, I got stuck behind a small crowd but Tom, Andy, Caleb and a few others broke out in front. I slowly caught up to them, maybe about a half mile in. As I was getting close, another guy slowly came up behind me then passed me. I was hanging back slightly but not really on purpose. First mile was 6:31. Into the second mile I was getting closer to Tom and Caleb and had passed Andy. Toward the end of the second mile I was just behind Tom and we had passed Caleb.
Just before the start of mile 3, the course split with 10k runners going slightly right and 5k runners turning left. Made the left hand turn (finished mile 2 in 6:21 - sub 20:00 looked doable) which went to a path going around a small lake which went left and right. I had no idea which way to go and the guy that had passed me earlier was already out of site. I looked left and right and finally decided to keep going but I kept on looking back. Finally, I saw Caleb turning the other way and a volunteer had also come running out to direct runners the right way to go. Tom was just behind me also going the wrong way. So when I turned around, Tom was a little bit in front of me, I told him "let's go catch up to Caleb". My pace had dropped pretty low with the stopping but I slowly caught some of it back up.
But, pretty soon, seemingly too soon, I could see the finish area. I thought maybe I had missed another turn. Came through the finish line in 18:51 with Tom 4 seconds behind me and Caleb about 10 seconds ahead of me. Caleb wasn't wearing a watch at all and had no idea the course was short. Andy got about 21 minutes. Lots of people got PR's.
Despite the mixups it was still a pretty fun morning.
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