Looking Good 5k – 15:55 – 9 Miles Total - 2nd Overall

3 Mile Warm Up

Mile 1	5:00
Mile 2	5:05
Mile 3	5:11
Last .13	4:53 (38 sec)
Total Average Pace	5:05

I arrived a little late but I was still able to get my warm up and strides in before the race, albeit it was a little rushed. The legs were feeling a little heavy before the race. Sean and Luis were there as well. The course was simple and flat with only about 3 turns. The weather was good for racing. We all lined up and the gun sounded.

Sean and Luis took off and I let them go. This time I was going to be content to run between 4:55 and 5:00 pace for the first mile and see if I would have anything left for the 3rd mile. About a quarter mile in Luis eases up significantly. His blister is giving him trouble so I pass him by. As soon as I pass him I could hear another runner, Jon Butler behind me. Sean ended up hitting the first mile in 4:4x. I ended up hitting it at 5:00 flat. I felt pretty good and it seemed like I may have something left.

Eventually we made the turn around and Sean had built a sizeable lead on me and I had a sizeable lead on Jon Butler. The top 3 guys would end up running a time trial race. Three quarters into mile 2 I could see that my pace was slowing down while I continued with the same effort. I hit mile 2 in 10:05.

During mile 3 I could see that I was slowing even more so I decided to put the effort up a notch but I couldn’t bring my pace down below 5:10. Once I realized this I minimized the straining and just ran with a pretty good effort level. I ended up finishing just below 16 minutes which gives me another sub 16 time.

I definitely was disappointed but it is what it is. I got sidelined with the foot issues and my long runs and training have been inconsistent. I was holding out hope that maybe I would have held on to some of the fitness gains I had earlier in the year and maybe getting back to regular running would get me back. But that isn’t the case so far. The good news is that I’m not that far off. I’m still in sub 16 shape and I know what will get me back to running fast.