Ran a local 5k today, not much competition showed up as there are something like 25 races throughout the state this weekend i heard. Upon seeing the rather thin crowd I decided that my strategy would be to lay waste to the field with a good 1st mile. However, my victory was not a crushing one nor was it predestined. Right before the start I saw an older guy show up that I had seen before and knew he was fast. So I figured it'd be a 2 person race, unless I could drop him. Weather was great, 55 at the start with light wind. I went out and led through the first mile with a 5:30. I could still hear the older guy breathing behind me, so I kept my pace up to try to shake him, rolled through the 2nd mile in a 5:50, and he still sounded the same distance back based on his breathing (i never look back cuz its a sign of weakness and it always give the other person a confidence boost, so i never did see how far he was back, just had to gauge it by hearing). The third mile had two pretty decent uphills including a long gradual incline to the finish which was actually quite taxing given my lack of hillwork. I closed the last 1.1 in 6:27 (roughly 5:50 and :37 for the .1). I ended up winning with a time of 17:48 and the older guy, who i figured out later was 49 years old! ran a 17:52 to finish a strong 2nd. I lead wire to wire and although the 2nd place guy pushed me to keep a good pace and made it hurt, he never got close enough to pass me. Although not a blazing time, it is a nice step in the right direction, and I felt pretty good also. It was also nice to win, especially given the award was a $50 gift certificate to a local running store where I will now be purchasing my next pair of shoes! | 