I was really nervous coming into this race. I arrived at the race and immediately saw some fast college and high school runners. But they were on relays so I knew they would help push me throughout the race but not be a threat. I had made it to the race with just enough time to get set up and was putting on my bid at the starting line seconds before the race start.
I knew the college runner (Josh) would be quick and he said he wanted a 17 flat time for the 5k so I made it a goal to stay with him. Within the first mile it was me, Josh, and some other young guy who was making both of us go faster than we wanted to for the first mile. The first half of the run I felt really good and had both other runners a few meters behind me. Then I started to relax a little and Josh made a move and just slowly made distance on me. As I thought the other runner had started to fast and he fell quite a ways back. After a hill Josh was just within reach and I thought I could get him but I was struck with some side aches. I took that as a warning that I was pushing it too much on the run. I held back and consequently fell back to the other runner and third place. I finished the run just right behind him with a 17:20.
My transition was about a minute or so long and I was soon rolling on the bike getting my gloves and sunglasses on in a hurry. They two relay bikers were far ahead and so I got to work early to try and maybe catch one. I got on the top bars in an aerodynamic position since I was racing without TT bars. I was in a fast position but I was going slow so I didn't miss the turn. I saw a lady in a green reflector vest standing in the middle of road and stared at her for a good 10 seconds to see if she wanted me to trun. She just looked and me and I flew by still concentrating on catching the other guys. I kept it up and soon I got to the highway and was rather confused that they changed the course so much. I looked back and had a guy a good 50 meters behind me and also saw what I thought was another volunteer in green up ahead. Soon the road came to a dead end and I knew then that I had missed the turn. The man behind me (Paul) had turned around the same time I did and we got back to the missed turn, adding an extra two miles to the race. I was super unmotivated after this and just wanted to cruise the bike, but Paul looked at me and said "Luis we got some work to do" which really helped me. Soon after I got off the saddle and took off passing many people with Paul doing a good job keeping up. I even had to pass my little brother who was doing the whole race. I felt really good on the bike and I'm sure I finished at a good time. Not entirely sure what place I was, but that really didn't matter too much after such a good bike. I was happy with my overall performance and won my age group.
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