Once again July 4th rolled around and I was back in Ohio. I've run the Freedom 5K a total now of 10 times between 2002-2017. It's a fun race with a fair course and it always brings in some fast guys that end up running sub 15:30 for the win most years. This year, however, was strangely different.
My buddy Dickman was not there this year, Tom was out of shape since he's been busy getting a new coaching position, and Dustin ended up having a bad race. Kind of strange not to have som 15 low dude around at this race. Anyway I went out and I was all alone. 5:02 through the mile which is just fine. It was windy in that direction but overall humidity and temperature wasn't that bad. However, I started pushing but I was slowing down. A 5:09, then a 5:17 and I was running all out. I'm not sure what's been wrong with me for the past two months but I;ve been running like shit. I'm guessing it's bombing/burning out after Cherry Blossom in April, having a little depression episode in late April/May and not really running too much. Whatever it was I ran 30 seconds faster in this race last year.
At any rate, no one was faster than me today and I'll take a win here, a race that I've been wanting to win for awhile, despite the fact that it's the slowest winning time in 15+ years of the race. Most non-runners don't understand how you can be a little worried/bumbed having won a race, so you just say "thanks" when they congratulate you. The truth is that it felt a little hollow winning this one. Don't get me wrong I'm happy but also worried about how I felt running.
Now on to marathon training. No more summer races for me.
Article about my win
results
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