Notes
Yeah, not a 5K. More like a 3 miler. First woman said the same. Unfortunately she just set a 'pr' on a short course.
Decided at the last minute to run. Ran the course as preview and good thing I did. It was not flat and fast and would favor those who left something in the tank after the first hill. Plan was to run first mile 6:15-20 then sub 6s for the next two. Pretty much ran that.
Tons of folks took off from the line at sub 6 pace and after about a third mile I was chasing a guy running about 5:40 pace heading up a long grind of a hill. I figured I'd let him have it. If he stayed strong he'd win but I guessed he would end up struggling from that effort. After about 1.25 miles I started to very slowly reel him in. I didn't want to do it too fast, rather just time it so I caught him with about .5 to go. That's what happened. I passed him slowly and could hear him coming back down the straight away and then dug deep reminding myself it was for the win. Got him by about 7 seconds and 3rd place was another 2 minutes back.
A kid came up and told me I beat his coach and he was a former college runner. Funny thing is that I beat him with my head as much with my legs. He went out too hard and I calmly measured my effort. It was no walk in the park. I worked for that.
Still feel Boston in the legs and have no snap.