Little Markou 5K Race To Educate 5K
Wonderful and fun race through the streets of the Longleaf community in memory of two beloved high school students. This is the second year in Longleaf (was previously held nearby at a different location). I was over a minute faster than last year and happy with my time (although I lost some drive during the third mile). I started out as usual where I seem to end up behind a long line of people. I passed several people after making the first turn and the line thins out to where I can see about 7 or 8 people ahead of me. Anthony has taken an early lead (like he did during Robbie's Run 5K in the spring). Jean is also a good distance in front of me and also Anthony. I think towards the end of the second mile I was in 5th place, with Anthony passing Jean and I had just gotten ahead of Andrea. Andrea has a very light and relaxed stride and is super cheerful thanking all of the volunteers (note to self to not let my 5k pain make me less cheerful).
First two miles on my garmin were 6:00 and 6:02. But, since this is a twisty and turny course I knew I'd still have a tough time breaking 19:00. Finally at about 2.5 miles I pull up to Jean and he says he's done (he's had a remarkable fall racing series with a 2:58 in Chicago). Anthony still has a good gap on me. I am feeling less motivated. I'm not done but I don't have a strong drive to try and catch Anthony (didn't think I could at the time but maybe now that I look back at it).
But, fortunately I knew Andrea was very close behind me and knew she could/would pass me if I eased up. In one of the pictures near the 3 mile marker I see just how close she is and looking at the official times we both ended up with 19:19.
At Robbie's run 5k, Anthony had faded. But this time he stayed even, finishing 10 seconds ahead of me overall. My last mile was 6:12 (garmin time), so another 6:02 would have put me neck and neck with him.
But, all things considered this was a very very good race for me. I loved running with so many familiar faces through the Longleaf streets with extra holiday decorations and for a good cause. The racing part (the push from behind and pull to catch up) could not have been better. I had been missing that at the last Wesley Chapel 5k. The last two 5k's were a slow down from the two before that but with this one, I once again sped up a little bit by 2 seconds.
Cooled down with a mile easy after the race and before the awards. Was awarded $50 for second place overall male (Anthony got 1st place masters at $75, no double dipping thankfully). After awards, ran another 4 miles with Julie who was looking for some more miles.
When I got home, picked up Stella and took her to Starkey Park and we did 3.6 miles on the trails there.
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