5K Race (Brentwood) --167.5--

LOS ANGELES -- Took a hike up the San Vincente Blvd. course and enjoyed it. This race is populated with some of the best from around the region...lotsa sub-20 stars kicking around (19:59 came in 82nd...and turning in 6:01s wouldn't have gotten you in the top 50). Stayed within the form and the plan. Wanted to get under 24:00 and got a sub-23 split at the tenth to go mark, so I don't know official time yet, but seemed to have nailed it. JDP ran his ass off to stay ahead. He's a champ and a gamer. I didn't even bother trying to push him in the last mile. Really impressed with the mental ability to NOT push it. This race wasn't the end goal. I wasn't going for a PR. I wasn't trying to win anything. Just good race experience. This is honestly the first time I've run "smart" in a race.

The way I'm trying to look at this is each race from now on should be easier than the one before. My fitness won't go down, so I should be able to get better times with less muscle effort. Good mindset anyway. And a good goal. It's a new day, baby. Long-term running. UPDATE: Found a photo on that stupid FotoJack site. I actually like the form...(FWIW, I'm eating this guy up apparently as this is toward the end of the race and I ended up beating him by 11 seconds on the clock. BUT, hats off to him because his chip time beat me by 2 seconds. So hey, hey. Everybody wins.)




Results:

JDP = 22:54 (chip) 23:08 (clock) 176/826 (overall) 20/56 (div) 7:24 (pace)
Huddy = 23:08 (chip) 23:20 (clock) 186/826 (overall) 18/46 (div) 7:28 (pace)