Luke - 3.25

3.25mi, 23:00 (7:04)
Jogged down to campus, where the Eugene Marathon 5k was going on, because Flap Jack the Krusteaz pancake had asked me to pace for him.  A guy I know on the UO Running Club team (Andrew) was trying to beat him, as was a girl on Team Run Eugene who usually does 1500s on the track (Jordyn).  Lots of smack had been talked in the weeks leading up to this race, and I was excited to see how it would all go down.  Flap wanted me to run the first mile with him and come through in 5:25-5:30.  I was talking to his coach before the race started and he said I should run a little slower, and I thought he was looking out for his runner, but then he went on to say that it was so Jordyn, who he also coaches, would have a better chance of beating him.  Conflict of interest!
I joined into the race about 50m in, and got right up next to Flap Jack.  I realized I should have worn my Garmin so I'd know the right pace for sure, but instead I mostly just keyed off a runner who was out in front of us and I knew would be doing about 5:05s.  Flap was going a little faster than 5:25 pace, so I just stayed close to him for the start.  Around the first turn, a bit over a quarter mile in, someone (maybe his coach but I didn't actually see him) told Flap to slow down, and a little before the half-mile point I told him "5:20 pace, a bit fast," but he wasn't letting up.  Jordyn was right behind us, employing really the only strategy one should use when trying to beat Flap Jack: sit behind him for about three miles, then outkick him.  She was breathing pretty heavily, but I couldn't hear Flap's breathing through the giant pancake suit.  I didn't see Andrew anywhere.  I told Flap that he was under pace one more time and he just said "yeah."  I didn't ever see the 1-mile mark, so at about 6 minutes I pulled off, but first gave Flap the rundown: "You're in sixth, but fifth is coming back to you; Jordyn is right behind you."  I walked for a little while and didn't see Andrew until somewhere over 6-minute pace.  I asked him what was up and he just gave me a thumbs-down sign (he would end up DNFing).  I walk-jogged over to Hayward Field and met up with some friends to watch the finish (the end was the same as the end of the marathon: enter the stadium and finish at the finish line).  After four or five faster runners came through, Flap Jack entered the stadium alone and had enough time to showboat a little and give high fives to the kids in the stands, and still came through at an absolutely amazing 17:08.  Jordyn came through about 20 seconds later; apparently the move had been made at 2 miles and she just couldn't hang on.  She was genuinely bummed about not beating the pancake even though she'd PRed (although she said that PR was pretty soft since she usually runs shorter stuff).  17:08, though, really is an amazing time for a pancake.