Today I ran in the 32nd Attleboro, MA YMCA 5K, which is the race I last ran in 3 years ago. My goal was to break 23:00 minutes but secretly I would have been happy coming in under 24:00. I actually finished the race in 21:35 and I was thrilled because that was only 28 seconds off of my PR! My first mile split was 7:07 Second mile split was 14:08 Official race results stated that I ran at a 7:01 pace but when I type the race results into my workout summary, it comes up as a 6:57 pace. I finished 16th out of 106 runners and 6th in my age group of 40-49 (I'm 41) The winner of my age group finished at 18:37! Amazing...I can't imagine taking 3 minutes off of my time! My goal for my next 5K which is 4 weeks away will be to beat my PR and finish the race under 21:00 minutes! This seems pretty reasonable to me, especially since I packed on 8 pounds last week while vacationing in Aruba! lol

Ok, so under the rules of conservation of sproink, I see that Coach Bryant got my 5k race today... Rats, I knew it had gone somewhere. Good for you to nail this one! You sure blew your goal times out of the water. Congratulations on a very nicely run 5k. So many people like them cuz they're short, but I think 5k's are really hard to do well.

I have a love /hate relationship with 5ks...Start fast, Go into oxygen debt and then Hang on by my fingernails. That's my mile by mile strategy. Pretty incredible way to run a 5k after a 3 year gap. Congratulations! CNY

Thanks for the kudos! I'm glad to be back in the swing of things and it's great having a goal to shoot for! I'm planning on working towards some longer races in the near future...I would like to hit a couple of 10K's this summer and maybe I'll get lucky enough to get into the Falmouth Road Race lottery. I would love to shoot for a 1/2 marathon at some point...but I really need to start logging some long distance miles. Hope the knees hold out! I was pretty spent after completing this 5K...it didn't feel short but the legs felt pretty good and I know I didn't have anything left in the gas tank at the end!

Great run ,Coach. Good Luck on the next goal. jjj

Congratulations! What a blast it must have been to do so much better than you were expecting!

I have a love /hate relationship with 5ks...Start fast, Go into oxygen debt and then Hang on by my fingernails. That's my mile by mile strategy. Pretty incredible way to run a 5k after a 3 year gap. Congratulations! CNY

That's my training partner's strategy. I have been trying to convert him with no result. Although, my fastest 5ks have been when I chase him through that first mile and then hang on. Nice race coach -- I predict you have some much faster times in you in the future. I would not be surprised to see a 19x in the not so distant future!!!

Nice race and time Coach (that's a fast time)....always nice to run faster than expected I also agree that those pesky 5K's are very difficult....like CNY said "I have a love /hate relationship with 5ks...Start fast, Go into oxygen debt and then Hang on by my fingernails. That's my mile by mile strategy" My last 5K I was waaaay to fast at the first mile marker....then I held on for the longest 2 miles of my life, it seemed. And then swore I would never run another one as I was getting close to the finish line. Then 5 minutes later I couldn't wait till my next race....strange how that works Tim