There weren't a lot of people running just the 5k, maybe 20-30. I believe there were a good number of people doing the splash n dash (1k yards + 5k). But it made for a nice atmosphere on the start line. Everyone was pretty friendly, and I got to know the people I was running with before the race started. The 5k started about 15 min late as they got the swimmers started first for the splash n dash.

I started off in the front, and it became apparent pretty quick that I was running with the front group. The front group was two men and myself and a boy about 10. After the first half mile the boy dropped off (though he finished with a time of 22 something, I believe. I let the front guy set the pace for me. Before the race he said he ran between 21 and 22 typically, so that works for me as a pace. I ran off his shoulder for pretty much the entire race, which had me second for most of it.

It was pretty nippy on the course. When we came back around on Stroop, not only did we head into a wind, but there was a hill. Not a problem on the first lap, but oh so challenging on the second.

It occurred to me as we did the first lap that if there were just the three of us out front leading the race, then I had a legitimate chance to kick it at the end and come out as overall winner. As we completed our first lap, the third place guy moved into first place. He didn't put much of a gap into the two of us, but just moved out front. Enough so that I still had hope of taking him in a sprint.

Coming up that hill the last time a runner came up from behind me and passed me. Here is where a little tragedy happened. I thought he was part of the 5k. It turned out I was wrong, and he was probably one of the first swimmers out of the water and on the course. As we went up the hill, I just had to hold on, and sort of shut my mind off as to the uncomfortableness I was feeling. As we crested the hill, we turned onto the road heading back to the rec center. I let my cadence carry me down the hill into first place, and as I passed into second (I thought third), the runner wished me well, a real class act.

My burst carried me to within about five seconds of the first place runner. Although, I misjudged the distance of the road, and ran out of steam before we made the final turn into the parking lot. So I settled down a little bit before the end. As we turned into the parking lot, I picked it back up again. Here's where the little tragedy fully occurred.

The leader turned right to the finish. The other runner headed on to a second lap (that I thought was running with us). The volunteer told me to do a second lap. I got confused and wondered if we needed to do a lap around the pond by the rec center. I was a bit crushed that we had run around the pond, and so I slowed to a walk, and asked the volunteer if that was what I needed to do (could barely talk as my lips were essentially numbed). Then I saw the third place guy turn towards the finish and realized my mistake. So I told the volunteer I had already done my first lap and ran to the finish line.

I still set a PR, but in talking with the other two finishers my real finish time should have been about 30 seconds faster. It was disappointing not to have been able to kick it for the finish to try to win it, or finish second and set a faster PR. The second place finisher said he was zoned on his race or he would have yelled at me. There's always other races, so I'll get the PR I want sooner or later. The guy who won ran a 20:5x, and I wasn't too far behind him, so maybe I would have finished faster than T-30. It was just a little crazy to come THAT CLOSE to actually winning a 5k to have it thrown off by a volunteer, though it's really not that big of a deal.

Having different gloves would have been good. I need to get some gloves for runners. Also, I'm looking forward to running races that are above freezing where I get to shed layers and breath through my nose. ;)

I watched a few people finish like the boy, and another guy who ran a 24 something in a big flappy jacket and jeans. I talked over that last misunderstanding with the other two front guys who were pretty cool, and I'm looking forward to seeing them at the half marathon.


The cold, the misdirection, that hill.