I was asked to help with the local race in the town where I grew up. My friend's dad is the race director. We came down to Mona last night and stayed with my parents. I set up the chute, clock, and timing system before the race and had enough time to get a 1 mile warm up in. Jake Morgan was the only real competition. He was a :47 high kid in the 400m last year in high school and supposedly ran at Weber. I didn't know if he was in decent shape or not? He won that race the last 3 years, including beating me last year. We took off at around a 5:20 pace. The course climbs in the last couple miles, so the first mile is the fastest. We ran together and he kept pulling ahead and then I would catch him on a turn. This went on until 2 miles where he gapped me by about 6 or 7 seconds. He looked comfortable, but about 2.5 miles I surged on a flat before we hit the last uphill and he came back to me. I knew I had to make a move, because there was no way I could out kick him in a 200 meter sprint to the finish. I realized that he wasn't in as good of shape as I thought when he was coming back to me. I surged passed him and he dropped back. I hit the hill hard and kept pulling away. He ended up about 40 seconds back at the end and totally dropped bad. First win in 4 years! Even if it was a little local race I will take it. 17:52 was my final time. I cooled down and watched my little brother take 4th, and my wife finish with a good time for her. Jaren ran the kids mile and took 2nd in her age. Between the 3 of us we came away with $45 in prize money, not bad for a little fun run.
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