This was going to be the test. No reason to not do my very best here. Flat course. Not raining. Not snowing. No Ice. We lined up, and the gun eventually went off. Immediately, the guy who I KNEW was going to win took off like a bullet, followed closely by his friend...then some young kid and a heavily bearded young guy. I knew the kid and the bearded dude were going out like rabbits, so I didn't fall in to the SPRINT THE START trap, although I DID go out slightly fast. Within the first 1/4 mile, I was in 3rd, where I stayed the rest of the race. After about 3/4 of a mile, #2 guy wasn't making any ground on me, but soon that changed. Mile 1 was a 5:40, which didn't feel deadly, but was hurting the proper amount I thought. I didn't think I could hold that kind of pace the entire race, but I was going to try. I "tried" to get a good comfortable pace, but I gotta remember, on a 5K, there is no comfort zone. It's just balls to the wall pain till the end, so on I pushed We hit the turn at about 1.75 miles and then I could see the guy behind me was only about 40 - 50 yards back....not bad. #1 and #2 were well ahead of me now, and we were each spaced out that it was not going to be close between any of us. #4 was a little closer than I liked, and I wanted at least #3, so I turned on just a tad bit more effort, although my split reflects a slow down, with a 5:57 mile #2. Still fine. What was cool, for me at least, was after the turn, I got to see the rest of the runners and walkers, and I knew so many people, I got lots of yells and people calling my name. I tried to yell and call back, but I was doing my best just to keep my breathing under control. The last half mile, I tried to pull out the reserves and see what was left. Mile 3: 6:01. I'll take it. I pushed across the line to the cheers of Mary and Conor. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was a PR by quite a bit. I'm actually amazed. 46+ years old, and I'm still putting in PRs. By this time, I honestly thought I'd just be capable of doing good in my age division, but being able to train in a different manner has certainly proven to make a difference. I'm happy.

Nothing.

None.


Gravity.


This is the race I got started 7 years ago when I opened my big mouth to say it would be a great way to raise funds for our FOP to help the community. Now my buddy MIKE has taken it over and only improved it. It has only gotten better each year, and if anyone can make it, they will be happy they did.