Different feel rolling up to the start of the hometown 5K this year. Less pressure? Certainly, doesn't feel like I have to prove anything this year. There isn't a goal time. Running for fun? Wouldn't necessarily say that. While it feels more like a run just to run, in the back of my mind don't want to do horrible either. Second year in a row where CT and I strolled up the morning of and signed up. While fairly certain we'd do it, neither of us trained for this. Although, CT of course set a goal time for herself.
Slightly different look to the start this year as well. My guess, about half the participants were the cross country teams from the middle and high school. It's good to see young blood, hope those kids stick with it. I'd still like to push that "go back" button and get that glimpse of what if, had I actually participated in cross country back then.
What's that? Brian Adams, Summer of 89 goes the gun. While it's great to see youth participating, it's a bit of a pain because they always have to start as close to the line as they can. This year was a trot around the first two turns to avoid stepping on anybody. Since there weren't any goals, I didn't care. Let them go out fast and see who dies out. Speaking of which, while there may not be any definitive goals, there are still some expectations of people that I can't let beat me. Once on the first straightaway, I can clearly see them up ahead. The pace seems fast, while I'm still holding a bit in reserve, hope this isn't a sign of the current shape they are in.
Before the next turn, passed one of them. At this point, the second one wasn't pulling away and I felt fairly confident that if anything, he'd be slowing down. Just after the mile mark, made my move (by staying at the same pace) and passed him and other guy. Everybody has their own style of running. The other guy, seriously sounded like he was going to die. Can't say I've ever ran (pun) across anybody like this before, but his breathing sounded as if he were having his last breath, "Errrrrreeeeuuuuugh". I thought about commenting on it, but then found myself wondering if he even realized he sounded like that and just left it alone. Not even sure what I'd say either, "Sounding strong", "Doing great, hang in there", or "Don't look behind you, death is just behind me".
For me, the rest of the race was uneventful. Caught a kid and the overall girl in the final mile, but didn't push any harder than I had too. Finished with my slowest 5K in a while. That bugs me a bit, but I also know based on the amount of running I've been doing lately, it wasn't that bad. In the end, still good enough to get me first place in my age group, so I'll take it.
CT's story from this year, she's always so damn competitive, she threw an elbow to a young girl trying to pass her. Let that sink in for a moment. Okay, it wasn't intentional, but we had a good laugh about it after. Even took the girl in question for a mile cool down jog after to show there wasn't any bad blood. CT probably won't admit this, but she does better when she has somebody right with her to push her a bit and it this case it helped her trying to push this girl, so it made for a successful day, even if neither of us were really ready for this 5K. In the end though, the fast couple, I mean the great looking fast couple, each got our respected firsts.
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