So this was my first race in two years. I didn't get a lot of sleep due to circumstances, but I felt pretty good. I was a little nervous because I hadn't done anything fast at all since I got back from my mission, I'd done a few miles around six minutes, but nothing as fast as my 5k pace. I could tell so far that I'm out of shape, but not horribly out of shape. That being said, my goal for the race was to be 17:00 something, as long as I wasn't over 18:00 I would be happy. I felt pretty good at the start, and it wasn't too fast. I started out easily and got right with the front group. I decided to move right up behind the leader, which may have been a mistake looking back, but I felt good at the time. I stayed behind the leader and a few guys caught up to us, making it a group of five. Around the mile I started to fall back from the group of five, falling back into fifth or sixth place. I came through the first mile at about 5:18. Shortly after the mile two high school kids caught up with me. They were moving quite a bit faster than me but I was able to push when they caught me and stay with them. It was hard to stay with them, but we started gaining ground on those in front of us. I was hurting the second mile, but I still managed about a 5:17 or so. The third mile is where I started to hurt. One of the high school kids passed me while the other fell back. I pushed it up a monster hill and tried to stay close to the kid in front of me. He pulled away, but I was able to catch another guy in front of me and put a good gap between us. I wasn't feeling great, but I pushed it the last half mile and was able to maintain my sixth place and finish with a decent kick. My third mile was the slowest, almost six minutes. My final time was 17:04, sixth place. I was happy and surprised at how I did. It wasn't incredible, but after not running for two years and only starting running a week earlier, it was a good time to start with. I really could feel the lack of training in the last mile, but I know with time I'll get back in shape. | 