Shelton WA. Oysterfest weekend. 5K race start and finish at the High School. Race will be on open roads with good wide shoulders and little traffic. One long block we will go around. $15 day of race entrance fee. After a tough marathon six days ago and a not very good recovery week, I have serious doubts about how today will go. No pains or injuries, just have felt tired while running this week. Almost opted out for today but now that I am here I am glad that I did show up. Mile and a half warm up and I actually feel really good. A few more strides while waiting for the start. Nice cloudy weather.
Start - Line up in a good position and do not get swept away with the fast crowd. Pick off a few as we start on a gentle downhill.
Mile 1 - 7:10 mile, I am sure that I will slow down at some point, but this feels good.
Mile 2 - Passed a couple more runners. Now a series of very short but steepish hills, up and down. Just enough to throw off any rhythm I have going. Friendly High School aged runner catches me, says that he likes my pacing. I am gasping for air and my heart must be pounding but I am loving this moment. No pains, no negative thoughts, smooth form, running about as fast as I can. Thankful to be here, doing this. I am having a terrific run considering what I expected. I mention to my side kick that there are three runners packed in tight, about twenty yards ahead of us. They have been slowly coming back to me and one is the lead female. I do not think that I can catch them, but my new friend seems to not be working as hard. I say that if he can pass one, then he could pass all three and improve a lot in the final results. Eventually he makes a move.
Mile 3.1- Turn it on for the finish. I can't keep up with the pack in front, but no one passes me near the end either. Grab a cup of water, congratulate Ken from Olympia on his second place finish, then go back a ways to cheer for all the runners. After a while I see people walking in, so that must be about it. I do a little cool down run on the track and wait for results. Then wait some more. Chat with Ken and also Barbara from Elma. Took a long time, but finally results are ready and seem correct. I get a medal for first in my age group (out of four) but do not win any raffles. Later, looking at my race results for the year I am amazed to see that all four of my 5K races have been within eight seconds of each other. Today's was right in the middle.
22:17
12th place of 101
race #211, 31st race of 2010
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