Started near the front in the second or third row back. Wanted to get a good start and not have to weave in and around people. First time doing this and although my first mile about killed me I think it pushed me which was good. Splits: Mile 1- 6:30 Mile 2- 7:13 Mile 3- 7:08. This was as hard as I have ever ran or even thought I could run. After the first mile I tried to slow down some and although I did I still ran a very quick second mile. I was spent at the end. Very difficult with the heat off the asphalt and I didn't take any water at the water station which I passed twice. I could of used it but didn't want to slow down.

Nothing. I went out hard and tried to maintain as best I could. Mentally I challenged myself to not look at my watch except for split times. I didn't use the lap counter so I never knew my overall time just the previous mile time and the current mile time.

Right after the finish I grabbed some water, took off the timing chip and went to look for my wife who was running her first 5K ever. Had water for her if she needed it but drank it while waiting for her. Eric, a friend who finished in 24:07 was with me and gave her some of his and I ran with her for about 100 yrds until she told me I was speeding her up so I went to the finish and took pictures of her coming into the finish and then as she finished. Her time was 31:52 which was excellent for her, her goal was under 32 min's. 5 of us ran this together and we all did extremely well and settled on dinner and beer afterwards to tell our war stories.


I have done no speed training at all this year except for a couple of tempo runs in July. Maybe 3 total so next year I hope to get under 20 min's on a 5K especially since I have learned so much about training throughout this year. So I would say training would be the biggest factor. Plus this was my first 5K race ever except for my last triathlon last week which had a split time of 25:23. So evidently my swim and bike does cause me run time to be slower. :)


I didn't like the loops and I didn't like the asphalt/parking lot run. No scenery other than buildings and parked cars. The weather wasn't bad to be out in but there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the heat from the road was hot. My mouth was dry and water never tasted so good at the end.