2009 Around the Town 5K

5K and 2/10ths of a mile would be more accurate. Same course as last year. About the same weather as last year. (Just as cold but no sun). So how did I end up running it 1 minute and 25 seconds faster than last year? Well that part's easy. I wasn't in anywhere close to the same running shape last year as I am right now. Maintaining some speed work through winter has really paid off.

I ran a 21:36 and finished 4th overall. Once again the very limited field has allowed me to come off much better than reality. In reality, 21 and a half isn't very fast for a 5K. Not in my age group anyway. But it was colder than ideal. It was hillier than ideal. And it was also longer than advertised. 3.31 miles by my Garmin. But I'm happy none the less because I spanked my time from last year! My splits were 6:39 / 6:47 / 6:22 / and 1:48 for the final .31 mile for an average of 6:31. Which is right where I would like to be with a marathon two months away.

Bailey and Heather ran (walked) it too. Heather ran her 11 mile long run last night and followed it up with the 5K this morning. Although Bailey had some problems like he did last week, he ended up winning his age group by default. Man, there are some nice goodies in there! For his $15 entry fee, he came home with over $100 worth of gift cards, certificates, and things. I'm going to have to get faster to win one of those for my age group.