First Dam Run 5k. 18:18. This is a small local fun run that I've wanted to do for awhile and decided to run it this year for fun and and to see where I'm at. It was also symbolic in way, to be able to line up at a race again, even if it's not to be a "race effort". My goal coming in was to run around 19:30 or so, and just relax and have some fun with it. As usual, though, I got a little competitive, and bumped it up as the race went on. The 5k course is a loop with about the perfect amount of turns to keep it from being too boring, but not so many that you can't get a rhythm. My elevation profile showed 79 feet of gain and loss, so pretty fast topography.
I ran with Dave for the first mile, and we got out easy and let all the rabbits go out hard, and most came back to us by the end of the first mile. Went through the mile in 6:20, in 9th place. Right on. At about 1.25 miles, I picked it up a little and Dave stayed at the same pace. I passed about 3 more people and got a mile split of 5:52. Oops, I didn't know that I could even run that fast. Oh well, it feels pretty good, and I'm not laboring at all, so I go with it. The third mile, more people ahead of me are dying off, and I increase my pace a little more in order to pick them off. Racing from behind is fun. Finally, with about a half mile left, there's just one guy just ahead of me. I'm not sure if he's the leader or not, but on the off-chance that he is, I decide to pick it up for the finish and pass him. He was hurting and coming back fast, and I passed him with about 300m left. As I crossed the finish I saw two other guys walking around, so that last guy apparently was not the leader. Oh well, 3rd is fine too. 18:18 overall (chip time was off two seconds), 5:33 pace the last 1.1 miles. 1st and 2nd place were about 16:40 and 17:10, respectively, which is why I never saw them; they were always one turn ahead.
Cooled down afterwards, but legs still feel pretty fresh, like they just did a short tempo or mp run. Very good sign. No more races until 2007, though, nothing but steady base work for the next few months. | 
