A win, Howl at the Moon 5k Race Report

I'll take it, first Master. Pretty embarrassing time. Hadn't even planned on running in this race until Wednesday. One thing's for sure, I sure can't run a fast 5k on mileage alone. It takes alot of 5k specific speed training. Jeez, my overall pace was about where I want to be for the Chikin Run 10k.

I knew going into the race the masters winning time from last year was pretty soft. I gave the fast guys another soft target, for next year. Pretty well run race. Dave Milner timed it. Loads of door prizes, with the big one being a set of Bridgestone Tires. Didn't hang around long enough to see if I'd won those. Used all of my luck up in the race. Thunder called me out at the start, whining about my running. Guess he's never run with me before. He ran a very strong race, but not where he wanted to be.

Ran the course as a warmup with EB, the eventual winner and the Philosopher. Man o' man, it was hot and humid. Tough night for a morning runner. Started out conservatively letting the young kids burn themselves out in the first half mile and letting the leaders pull out. Purposely left my Timex and Garmin at the car. I didn't want to know my splits. Heard the first mile anyway, a 5:57. Just about where I wanted to be. Used Thunder as a gauge for that first mile and settled into pace. It was so dark at the turnaround I couldn't see the leaders coming back out, only the one runner ahead of me. Passed him just after we got back onto Murfreesboro Road. That stretch of road seemed to last forever. Picked off another HS kid who must have gone out to fast and set my sights on the only other runner I could see ahead of me. In my mind I still thought I was running at around 6:00 pace. But, I should have known better. It was tough coming home, but not the "gonna bust a gut, puke" pace. Never did reel in that last runner, but no one passed me the entire race. Paula and Dylan were at the finish and yelled for me across the line.