I ran at the USATF meet at Timpanogas High School in Orem, UT today. It was a 5000m race on the track, and they allowed old guys (masters) like me to run, too. I was hoping there would be a group of people who would be running, but it turned out to be two runners--me and my little brother. I was pretty stoked because I knew I was guaranteed to get at least second place. :) But I was kind of bummed that we went to the effort of going to the meet but didn't have much competition. Anyway, I started feeling better (after being under the weather yesterday) as the day went on, so I felt like I could do OK. My goal was to be under 20:00 for sure, and I would have loved to be under 19:00. We started out quick (for me) with an 87 on the first lap. Then the laps got slower as time went on. My brother is pretty fast (just graduated high school and ran for his school), but he hadn't run in a week. I could see him about 50-100 meters ahead of me for most of the race, but I couldn't muster much strength to try to reel him in. My time was below 21:00 but not near my goals. That bummed me out. The thing that is most frustrating is that I just couldn't get myself going with a good tempo or with good mental strength. I felt like I was dragging along. This is similar to how I felt in the half last month. Even though my time was about 70 seconds faster than my last 5K, it just didn't feel satisfying. I know I can do better. I think the heat played something of a factor, but it wasn't that bad. I think I just need to keep pushing past this plateau, and it will come. But hey, it's not everyday that you finish 2nd (or last) in a race, eh?! P.S. I did enough of a cooldown to get to 40 miles for the week, so that's good.
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