Gun went off and I settled into a fairly fast pace with a group of high school cross country runners. It was strange that no one seemed to start too fast. The front 10 or so runners were just out in front and the group I was with were actually chatting a bit and holding 6:00/mile pace.

I wasn't struggling, but it was early and I liked the group so I sat in. About 3/4 mile in, one of the young runners got a small gap. There was a slight wind, so I made the move and tucked in behind him. He was skinny, but tall, so he had a decent draft. It helped stay warm as much as saved energy since it was still fairly cold and I had no warmup. He was aware I jumped on and put in a slight surge to see if he would shake me. This kid was smart. Usually younger kids don't have tactics and run no matter what is happening in the race, but he was always aware what was going on.

That surge dropped the group and put the two of us solo. We reeled in another runner my age and although we both made a move to go by quickly, he was able to jump on. From then on, it was the three of us all alone in the gap. from mile 1 on, we didn't make any more passes.

We duked it out on the rest of the course. A surge here or there any time we felt a weakness and sat in any time we struggled. Younger kid was always out in front or side by side and the other guy sat in third. There was confusion about what side of the cones we should be on, so there were police and cars making us switch back and forth, but we were locked in battling up until about half mile left. The final stretch had some turns and we came up on the end of the 5k race. We went to the outside, but the other 2 made a final surge and I got gapped. I knew from the out and back I had 10th place locked up and thought I had a PR as well. I'm not sure if that gave me the excuse I needed to let them go or if I just had nothing left, but they put ~:10 into me and I cruised in. Great race.
Actually RACING others and not just racing yourself can be so much fun.


Not sure. Maybe make a move earlier or the opposite and not done the early surges to test them.

Cheered on K to a new PR and other runners and then got warm in the church waiting for awards.


Great local race. Awards were a bit slow and had some mistakes, but it was at least inside with seating, raffles, etc. so I'll cut them plenty of slack.