Steve - 8

I never manage to secure a good spot in the front of the pack at the start of a race. For bigger races, I always get stuck behind a huge group of people. Since I like doing a bunch of drills and stuff right before the start of the race, I always meander to the start right before the gun so I can be loose. But I played it a little too close this morning and my first 1/4 mile suffered immensely. I had to zig and zag through a huge group of kids and portly slow-moving adults and it cost me precious seconds. When I finally hit the first mile marker, my watch showed 7:14. Even with the slow start, I just didn't push the pace enough. My goal going in was 20:30. That is 6:39 per mile. So clearly I had a lot of work to do to even get under 21 minutes. Well I just decided to go for it anyway. I didn't wear the Nike Plus today, so I was just running by feel. I surged past all the people who ran the first mile too fast and continued to pass people for the next 2 miles. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the race crew managed to botch the 2nd and 3rd mile markers. I never even saw them. Apparently they were on the ground. What a great place for the 2000 people running in the race to see them!(Some people I talked to after the race didn't see them either). Anyway, it could be a good thing(during the race) so I wouldn't be overanalyzing my mile splits too much. It's just better to run sometimes. Well, once I hit the turnaround with roughly .5 miles left, I went into another gear. I took it up another notch and hammered it all the way home. The legs responded well and when I hit the mat the clock said 21:14(6:50 per/mile), which means I averaged 6:35min/pace in the final 2.125 miles. Despite not reaching my time goal, I felt pretty good knowing I ran the last two miles at close to a 20 flat 5k pace. And afterwards I still felt strong. I then knocked out about 4 miles of cooldown to complete the day. Next up is the L.A. Marathon 5k on May 25. I should be ready to run a sub 20 5k by that time...