Notes
This was a strange expereince for a race. I couldn't find my car keys so I was 30 minutes late leaving for the race. I got there 15 minutes before the start, but too late to register, so I had to run unofficial. By the time I got my racing flats on, I had about 5 minutes before the start. I didn't want to start the race cold, so I warmed up for the 5 minutes behind the pack. It took me about 30 seconds to get to the start after the gun went off, so no way I was going to place well, so I basically decided to run my own race within a race.My first mile was horribly slow (6:51). This was due to having to warm up in that mile and I found out later it was long by 15 seconds. I passed Hovey at about 11 minutes as i steadily picked up the pace. My plan was to catch Bary near the end and work with him to bring out the best in each other. I never saw Barry. He had his fastest 5K in the past few years, (19:36),. He usualy runs low 20 minutes... so he is running great right now. Hovey ran about his expected time - 21:10.Coming down the end of the race, i glanced at my watch and saw 19 minutes, so I knew I had about 3 minutes left so I was ready to go into a drive to the finish, but to my shock - the finish was right there. I didn't know that they changed the course to a 5K this year instead of a 3.5 miler! I would have run faster if I knew it was a 5K. This was my slowest 5K ever, but I'm not disappointed because of what happened.Lessoned learned - always check out race details BEFORE leaving for the race!