Rainy morning for Blackberry Fest, just like last year. It was really going two hours before race time, but slowed to a mist for the run. And it was warm, so actually not bad running weather. Henry was in town visiting, so he joined me for the 2-mile warm-up to downtown. Real small field this year, no one I recognized. Olympic High had their team out, and I figured that's the only people I'd race against. We warmed up another mile with one loop of the course. I really just wanted to better my 5k time from earlier this year, which was pretty realistic.
I figured the high school kids would race ahead, but apparently someone had taught them pacing. So I took over about 400m into it, and led the first mile in 5:27. A guy passed me right there and I stuck with him, which was good because it kept the pace up. I stayed within 5-10 yards for the second lap of downtown and we hit mile 2 in 5:39. We played the surge game for the last loop, me catching up to within a few feet then him stretching it out. With 600m or so left I thought I had a chance to take him, and went after it on the downhill. There's a tight corner there and it was slick so I ran cautiously, and he took off strong out of it the turn. I held close but couldn't get the turnover to make up the few quick steps I needed, and he pulled away a few steps through the chute. 6:01 for the 1.1, and he beat me by three seconds. 17:07 for me overall. Good race, better than last year's time by a minute and dropped 14 seconds from my other 5k this year. Two mile cool down home, now it's time for breakfast. adidas OneZero -- 8
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