Today I did Steve's Run 5k in Dowagiac, MI. Steve's Run was one of the races Justin and I would always do "back in the day." The course is a mixture of road and trail surfaces. The legendary Ron Gunn puts on the race in honor of the late Steven Briegel who had died of cancer in 1990.
I was a little nervous about this race since it was my first 5k "race" since Lagrange 5k back in June. My plan was to run about what I did at Lagrange (16:21) or go a little faster.
The first mile went out, in what I thought was a blistering pace, but I clocked in at 5:06, and I was sitting 7th at that point. We then go through some wet grass/trail which slowed my leg turnover a little bit. I was still able to pick off 3 runners during that time, and was sitting in 4th place at the 2k mark. We then go up the hill in the cemetery in which I passed the 3rd place runner. So I was sitting 3rd at the 2 mile mark which was clocked at 10:36. A huge drop-off from my first mile time. At this point 1st and 2nd had a good 30 second lead on me. I knew I probably didn't have enough to get them, so I tried to hang on 3rd. Even though 4th was closing hard on me the last K, I was still able to hold him off and get 3rd place in a slow time of 16:41. I am a little disappointed considering in past years I have ran a 16:27 (2005), and 16:20 (2007)on that course. Plus, I had ran a 16:21 5k earlier this summer.
Oh well, I guess I will take my age group award (stain glass) and stop complaining...
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