I'm lightweight kicking myself for my performance, because I could have broken 18 minutes. Originally, my goal was to do 6-minute miles for an 18:36 finish, because I was just doing this race as a training run in preparation for a more important race. So, I was gonna do it fast, but not risk injury. Well, the first mile went well, and I wasn't working very hard, and the second mile went well too, and I still wasn't working at my max. So then I thought, "I can break 18 minutes and get a PR!" I still didn't push myself to go all-out though, because according to my calculations I didn't need to. I guess I was saving something for the end, maybe. I don't know actually. In any case, I severely miscalculated, because the finish line was at the end of a long uphill. I was looking at my watch, and thinking about what distance was left, and I thought I would have no problem getting around 17:50. By the time I realized I was wrong, the clock said 17:54 and I was still many yards away from the finish I sorta kicked but I couldn't make it under 18 minutes.

My previous PR was 18:01, so...it still is. Actually I'm pretty sure I crossed the line in 18:00, but I stopped my watch after the finish in case there was a photograph I would ruin by putting my hand on my watch. My watch said 18:01.68, and I think it took me at least 0.68 seconds to stop the watch. However, since the chip times have apparently not been published, I don't think I should officially claim 18:00. I gotta go find another race to clear this up...

I guess I would take the race more seriously. I'm sure if it were a morning race I could have gone faster, but evening races are hard for me. I like to race on a totally empty stomach, but that's impossible for an evening race. So, I had low expectations to begin with and that probably kept me from being as motivated as usual.

Next time I'll start to push it further out. Like, a half mile or something. The hill at the end took deceptively long to climb, but I could have found a few seconds SOMEWHERE in the race.

Also, I haven't run an open 5K in a couple years, so I have that excuse going for me too!

I jiggity jogged for a few minutes and watched some finishers come in. Eventually I stretched. I stayed away from the beer garden because I didn't want alcohol to interfere with my recovery.


No fire in the belly this time.


It's a fun race on a relatively easy course. Some real fast people show up, so there's no pressure to win an age-group award--you won't even come close! There's a briefcase relay before the 5K which looks like a lot of fun. And there's a beer garden! I don't like that the race is at 7:00 pm, but it is a nice way to finish up a week in June.