Notes
I decided to give this one more of a race effort from the get-go. Went out at what felt like 5:45ish pace to me. Didn't feel too bad. Passed the first mile in 5:36 which I was not expecting. But I went with it and kept it going. Still felt pretty good through the 2nd mile. Got tougher in the 3rd mile but didn't think I had slowed down by that much. Poured it on best I could for the 4th mile and still felt pretty decent through that. 5th mile didn't feel too bad either but definitely a race effort through and through. All I wanted was 28:30 so to do sub-28 I was pretty happy. Still in pretty decent shape even with all my time off and my very low mileage. Everything else is feeling good too.
All in all great day. Got into this race for free, ended up getting 2nd place, and the race ended at a bar with unlimited beer. Well unlimited for a period of time before the tap ran dry. Was talking with a somewhat older (35-40ish) girl who was also waiting for a drink, and after a while she stopped waiting, bought drinks, and bought me a drink too which was pretty frigging awesome. Much success.