As an additional challenge, the 5K was timed but overall place didn't matter. They awarded prizes based on how close your finish time was to the entered time.
John entered a time of 22:30, a goal he felt was a little out of his reach beforehand. But he finished in 22:15 - a new PR! I hoped that was close enough to the entered time for him to place, but there were other guy runners who finished within 2 seconds of their entered time, and the winner finished exactly at the time he estimated, something like 17:37. Crazy.
I entered a time of 28:30, assuming that my PR wasn't the most realistic estimate for a winter race, but hoping I would beat it nonetheless. But this time, everything worked in my favor and it was a fast race! I'm not sure what to make of my time. The 5K was not chip timed, but they had a timer calling out the time-per-second at the finish, and we were told to write down the time they told us so they could figure out who was closest to their estimate. My official finish time was 27:28. But I started past the middle of the pack, so I didn't cross the starting line until at least 2-3 seconds after the official start. Also, the rules of the guess-your-time game forbade everyone from wearing watches, so I couldn't time myself. That makes my time about 3 seconds or so behind my PR from last fall, 27:23.
I think I could fall asleep in a forward fold like this.
But I'm really pleased with how consistently I ran! I wasn't exactly gunning for PR and I've only consistently been working on speed for about 2 months, so I think an improved 5K time is within my reach this year. And moreover, it was a strong, pain-free race.
Other highlights: a good friend of mine from elementary school, Allison, was there with her husband and another of my old classmates, Drew. I was behind Drew for most of the first 1.5 miles. When I finally pulled up next to him, and he recognized me, I realized I needed to spit. So right in that moment, I had a look on my face that said "Hi, I might throw up on you." But I managed to keep from spitting on him, and I finished just about 15 seconds behind him. It's nice to see old Fort Wayne friends at local races. We also got to hang out in the new, posh IPFW Field House. Everything at IPFW is newer and nicer than when we first moved here, and especially since I moved away. They had tons of food after the race, and everything was very well run!
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