Notes
Temp 74 Wind 4 mph. Humidity 86% Dew Point 71°.
About a dozen from the local university's running club and a handful of old 50+ folks. Rest are here for the tee-shirt. Out purposefully fast for a hot, humid day to (a) shake the pack and (b) not lose contact with the faster clubbers. In 7th overall after second turn onto the main trail. Move up to 5th by the time we go under Kingshighway bridge. KEH towing three SEMO kids with him. Pretty sure won't catch one. One with phone and ear-buds is toast. Other is an unknown.
First 5:00 minutes at 6:22 pace and go through first mile at 6:25. Nothing pretty. Not settling in. Looking like a grind. Catch ear-buds climbing the hill before the turn around. Second mile split 6:38. That sucked. Count Mississippis and am about 0:10 seconds back of the next kid. May be too much.
Hear the 15:00 minute alert go off on Garmin. Count again and have closed to 0:07. Probably not enough real estate left if he has any type of kick. He is not looking sloppy. Rebound with a 6:28 third mile. Kid started to gap me right after he turned off main trail and headed to Osage Center. I finish the last 0:22 seconds at a 5:23 pace.
Clock Time = 19:53. 4th Overall. 1st in the 55-59 AG to the shock of some unknown dude and his wife who looked like they had figured his 20:20 in backwoods Southeast Missouri would be good enough.
Never got in stride or felt comfortable. Start to finish grind in the humidity, but pleased with time. Sub-20 a little over two weeks from 57th birthday and over 0:20 seconds faster than I ran this course two years ago on a cooler morning.
Props to CBEGM co-founder KEH for another OA win. The 18-year old college kid chasing him just got a $30 PHD in running. Much cheaper and more useful than the other degree he is probably working on. 2x 5K OA for him and third total between us. 56 year-old CW PRs, beats goal time by nearly 0:45 seconds, and wins female OA.