Luke - 7.5

5k race, 16:51, first place

Got to the park at about 8:30 and picked up my race number and started warming up around 8:40, fifty minutes before the race start. Was pretty slow on the warmup, but did about three miles. Probably would have done well to do another mile or more actually. At the start line it looked like there would be some competition (a number of guys in racing flats, etc.). A shorter guy who looked like a triathlete asked if I was doing the 5k or 10k; I told him I was doing 5 and he said he was doing 10.

Gun went off and triathlete took off pretty well and a guy in white was not too far behind him, and then there was me. I could tell I went out too slow, probably because of not enough warmup, and I'd only done one or two strides. I stayed in third the first mile, with a couple other runners right near me. At the mile mark there is a hairpin turn with a little drop onto a different bike path, and a few things happened in rapid succession as I got there. First, the guy giving splits said 5:37, second, I said "Jesus." because that is way too slow (I was hoping for 5:15 or better), and third, my foot slipped out from under me as I made the turn, and I went down pretty hard. I got back up as quickly as I could, but I had landed on my knee and was pretty sure I was bleeding, but couldn't really see without stopping. So my hands and right knee hurt and I was mad about being so slow at the mile so I really tried to take off. I pushed as hard as I should have been pushing the first mile and managed to catch guy in white at about the halfway point and was within sight of triathlete by two miles. My second mile was 5:24, which I was much happier about, and I was still pushing hard. At the place where the 10k and 5k courses split I was about 5 seconds behind triathlete, and for some reason I had been getting slightly paranoid that he had lied to me and was doing the 5k. Of course he wasn't, so at the split I was in first place, and just had to follow a guy on a bike who was pacing or showing the way or whatever. At a few places I was able to look behind to check if anyone had a chance at catching me, but I guess all the people who were close were doing the 10k. Third mile was I think another 5:24; it was 5:56 from the second mile to the end anyway.

After the race I was able to check my leg, and it was indeed quite bloody. I have a half-dollar sized wound right below the kneecap and then the top half of my shin is fairly scraped up as well. Also a couple little holes on my hand where I had caught myself and pushed myself back up.

A little over a minute after I'd finished I saw the second place guy coming in, and it happened to be a good friend of mine by the name of Zack Kennedy. The 1956 Hilyard crew going 1-2, what what.

I cooled down by running back to my friend who was doing her first 5k ever and running with her the last mile. We waited around for the awards ceremony, and my prizes were a comped entry into another 5k, which I had been planning on doing anyway, and a really dumb visor. They had probably a hundred of these visors and maybe thirty people stuck around for the awards ceremony. We didn't stick around for the random prize drawings because we figured they would just be handing out visors all day.

THE END