4 mile warm up at 8:30 pace. Now, by way of background, the only 5k races I've ever run are the local neighborhood (ward) 5ks, and I've never done particularly well, always wimping out and coasting through, content to take 3rd -- same two people always take 1st and 2nd, neither particularly fast. We have a slow ward, and typically 20 minutes would win, so today I decided to run 5k in less than 20 minutes, just to see if I could. (Other than the past ward 5ks, which I did around 21:xx I've never bothered to time a 5k and figure I need to at some point to see where I am.) Again, I've not been very good at the mental fortitude it takes to "race" but I figured I could at least run 5k in less than 20 minutes. Well, I'm relieved that I was able to run 5k in 19:51 (6:23 pace), and I know it was not an all out effort, so there is some hope for better improvement. Because I've been running more miles than I ever have, I've not really done any speed work. Today was encouraging.
Finished with easy 1 mile cool down at 9:00 pace.
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