Ran the Draper Days 5 K in 17:14, 17th place overall and 3rd master, $25. There is something special about a 5 K road race at 4500 feet on a certified loop course with some hills where breaking 15:00 is not enough to win, breaking 15:10 is not enough to be in the open money, and breaking 17:00 does not get you into the top 10 while there are only a little over 200 finishers. This is Fast Running Blog officially the most competitive road 5 K in Utah - at least I do not know of others. This our Carlsbad 5 K minus the mass participation. I brought Benjamin with me to the race. We warmed up about a mile together along with Steve Ashbaker, and then the race started. Everybody started very fast. Then some younger runners slowed down creating a roadblock of sorts. Benjamin and I worked our way through the crowd and about half a mile into the race caught up to Steve Ashbaker and Steve Anderson. Once we did, either they joined us or we joined them - it was probably mutual - we slowed down some and they sped up some. We worked together for some time. The mile at the official marker which I believe was accurate was 5:22. The first mile appears to be a slight uphill. I felt just right. In the second mile my legs started to feel more tired. Ben Van Beekum passed us. I tried to hang with him, but I could feel that my legs lacked the strength. I missed the mile 2 split, but Benjamin remembers the split being 10:43 which would have given us 5:21 for the downhill mile. In the meantime we were gradually closing the gap on Walter who was maybe 15 seconds ahead at the mile. He being the master was a target for me and Steve. In the third mile, which is a slight uphill, my legs started to give out more as the competition including Steve Ashbaker began to pull away. I signaled to Benjamin to pass me and go after them. He took off quite energetically. Walter won the masters with 17:03, Steve was second in 17:10 with me third with 17:14. Benjamin, however, was ahead of both of them finishing in 17:01. I thought - how funny - the people I could not beat I sent my son to beat :-) I was not unhappy about my time - this is an improvement compared to Murray Fun Days, but I was much happier about Benjamin's. 17:01 in a road 5 K on an honest course at altitude is quite solid for a 14 year old boy. Josh McGabe won overall with 14:53, then Teren 14:59, Riley 15:04, Jake 15:09, and Scott Keate 15:25 for the top 5. I ran total of 12. Jenny did 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 0.5, Benjamin 8. | 