Notes
I decided last weekend to give one more 5k a try before switching into longer distance mode. Only goal was to push early and see what it felt like. After a good race in Newburyport last month I would have been fine with blowing up.
The start was quick… as expected. Zach Schwartz and Keefe were out in front and I was in a second pack of four or five that included Shaun Merrill from track. We were only slightly over 5 minute pace through 800 meters (not unlike in Newburyport), but it didn't last. First mile was right about where I wanted and I had some people to run with so I was happy.
From the first mile mark on I was in a group of 3 (with a younger Francis - late 20s - and an older one - late 40s). The younger Francis and I were running slightly ahead. He was putting in little surges, getting three or four meters up and then we'd crawl up to him. I did my share at the front of our small group too, but I was just happy to sustain our pace...
On the second loop it was obvious Brian was paying for hanging with Zack early and the three of us caught him with about 300m to go. On the last curve, 100m out, the younger Francis was run onto the sidewalk (the double loop meant we'd been in a crowd for the last kilometer), I had to go way wide, and the older Francis came out of the mess a step in front. And that was all he needed. I chased him to the line but was always a yard back. In any case, very happy with the result. 16:24. 17 second PR.
It is trivial that I was bumped to fourth in the results because I ran through a singularity at some point causing my chip time to be two seconds higher than my gun time. What's not trivial is being recorded in the results as "Joe Lamer"…. which if it wasn't used by some of the grade school bullies I knew, was a definite missed opportunity.