I lined up a few rows back this time compared to how I normally start near the front since I knew my legs were shelled and I didn't expect to run well. At the gun I just tried to settle into a rhythm and see how the legs really felt after the tiring warm up. Weaved through a few people and settled in knowing where I stood based on the usual crowd I see at races and where they were. Actually doing okay with pace and at the 180 turn was sitting around 22nd place or so surprisingly!

Passed through the first mile in 5:59, about 25 seconds slower than I normally would and just tried to maintain really paying attention to how the legs were doing. They were really tired, but not hurting and I didn't feel like I needed to slow down or anything. So just focused on the people ahead of me and worked to stay with them. One of them was Sherri who I run against often and is similar in pace to me on a good day (she's faster when I'm having an off one). I was a little surprised to see I was hanging with her about 15 feet back.

There was also another Howard County Strider who finishes around the same time as me usually who I knew was in the 30-39 age group about 20 feet in front of her. Mile 2 went through in 5:58 which was really eye opening as I basically never even split miles in a 5k. Okay, so be it, maybe I'll have a decent race after all!

About 2-1/2 miles in I was right with Sherri and we caught and passed Mike (the HC guy). I was worried he'd stay with us and race for the finish as I knew I'd have absolutely zero kick. But he fell back a little and Sherri and I cruised on in to the finish with her about 2 seconds ahead. She was 2nd overall female.

Wow, almost perfectly even split race, good placing overall in a fast field and on tired legs to boot!! I'll take it!

Nothing really. Picked off the guy I wanted, didn't get passed and paced really well considering how tired I was going into the race. Good result and I'm really happy with it.

Sat down with some Gatorade and dripped sweat all over the ground. I was pretty cooked!


Riding 100+ miles over the last two days and racing Columbia last weekend.


I'm really happy with my time and result. The last two years I have been 3rd and 2nd in the AG and have gotten gift certificates to the sponsor running store. But this year even though I was 2nd in AG (so expected a $15 gift card again) it turned out that I was the fastest military/vet and was awarded a $50 check for my efforts!! Bonus!! Once again, a great race in a strong field and great atmosphere. This is a race I would recommend to anyone interested and available to participate.