Luke - 10

Cinco De Mayo Five 5-Miler, 27:55 (1st place)
At the Bring In Spring 5k one of my prizes was comped entry into this race...I was gonna give it to Zack but he had to be in Portland this weekend and wasn't sure he wanted to do a race anyway...so I went ahead and ran it.  There was a 5k and a 5-mile, and I decided to do the latter because I figured it'd be less pressure and I'd be able to get more miles in.  I was able to get about 2.5 miles of warmup and the same for cooldown feeling pretty good this morning.  At the start I saw Orestes Gutierrez, who was doing the 5k, and this fast guy Alex Jones who has done a bunch of races lately with results like 15:15 5k, 31:30 10k, and 70' half-marathon.  I talked to him a little before the race and he said he'd be doing the 5-miler, so I figured I wouldn't end up with a win today.
At the start Alex took off like a shot; I think he was shooting for 5:00 pace.  I ran just behind Orestes for the first ~200m, and then he pulled away a bit.  Another guy in an orange Saucony jersey came up and passed me at about a quarter-mile in, but after about a half mile of hanging out a couple seconds behind him I was able to pass him and pull away a bit.  The course went out on the bike path for just over a mile, then took a right to do an out-and-back over a bridge; the 5k went back the exact same way while the 5-miler took a right where the 5kers went left, and did another out-and-back.  Coming over the bridge I tried to get closer to Orestes but didn't quite make it; and I saw Alex (and gave him a high five) coming back pretty far ahead and looking fast.  As I got back to the turnoff I tried to look ahead to the 5-mile course to see how much distance Alex had on me, but didn't see him.  There were some volunteers with water telling people to go left for the 5k and right for the 5-mile, and as I made the right turn one of them said, "You're the leader."  I said, "What?" and kept going, and wasn't sure if Alex had taken a wrong turn accidentally or on purpose, or if the guy was wrong, or what.  I was all alone heading to the turnaround, and after about 3/4 of a mile I was wondering if I might've missed a chalk arrow on the ground, as sometimes these races aren't super-well-marked.  Finally I spotted some chalk on the ground, and I almost turned around at it while wondering why it was an E, and then realized it was a 3 from the other direction and the turnaround was another ~200m up ahead.  When I turned around I of course hadn't seen Alex so I knew he hadn't done the 5-mile; the next runner was about thirty seconds behind me.  My first mile was 5:13; I didn't see the second mile marker but my split was 11:13 at three miles, so I had slowed down a bunch (probably because there was no one for me to try to catch or try to hold off).  Fourth mile was 5:43, a fine effort, nothing too taxing.  As I came around the last corner to the finish there was a 5k runner who looked like he'd finish in front of me, so I gave a good kick and just barely got him at the line...I know he's not competition or anything, but it's always good to have a body there to try and get in front of.  My last mile was another 5:43.
I talked to Alex after the race and he had apparently just decided at like a mile and a half in to do the 5k?  Said something about there being too many turns?  It was kind of a weird conversation.  Anyway for the win I got a $20 gift card to JC Penny, and of course a medal.  I saw this morning that Blue Dog Meadery was one of the sponsors so I was really hoping the winners would get a bottle of mead, but alas that was not the case.  They had a couple piñatas hanging on the start/finish arch, and Alex and I each got to whack them with a baseball bat...they were filled with candy and a rolled-up comped entry into a Memorial Day race, and kids and adults scrambled for it all when they exploded.  I took a few pieces of candy on my way out; also they gave everyone an awesome chocolate bar when we picked up our race numbers, so some nice sweets to start off the day.
results