As most people reading this probably already know, I have been trying to get in the top 3 in my age group in this particular race for several years. Really, I have been trying to break into the top 3 in my age group for *any* race for several years - it's only happened once. But this race, in particular... there's a history there, which can be summed up quickly:
In 2008, I ran a nice PR, then saw I was 3rd AG on the unofficial posted results. Stuck around to claim my prize (a painted wooden fish) only to find that a timing glitch placed me 4th instead. That was the beginning. Since then, I've placed 6th, 14th (that was an off year), 4th again and 7th.
Back to now:
Today, I ran a really solid, consistent race. The weather was about as perfect as it's going to get for this time of year - cool and dry. I passed the first mile at 5:55, feeling good. Up and over the mostly-insignificant hill, I felt great. I started passing all the runners who were fading from going out too fast. By the second mile, I was starting to really feel it - the burning in my lungs telling me that this is a 5k, not a half or full Marathon. The burning in my throat telling me that the air was really, really dry.
I passed the second mile at 6:00 flat. At this point it was between me and another runner in one of the ubiquitous red "beef" singlets. As far as I could tell, there weren't any other runners right behind us. Either that or they were really silent ninja-folk whom I could not hear. Up ahead, I could see my friend Patrick, but he seemed so far away that I wasn't going to focus on catching him. I was going to focus on beating Beef.
Beef had been three steps in front of me for about 1/4 mile and I passed him for the first time near mile 2. Then it was a little back-and-forth game all the way up William Cannon. When we turned into the parking lot for the last quarter mile of the race, I got in front of Beef, and I thought he was gone for good. Then I saw that we had reeled Patrick in quite a bit with our little contest.
So I focused on Patrick and slowly gained on him until we were right next to one another. He recognized me and said "I'm not going to let you beat me, Bill!" We both poured on everything we had left. He proved to have just a little more than I did, finishing a couple steps ahead of me. Beef had more energy still, and ended up blowing by us both.
I didn't see my watch at mile 6, but the geek-o-meter says it was a 5:53, followed shortly by a 45-second 0.14 miles at the end.
I crossed the finish line with a 13 second PR - 18:35. Woohoo!
Then, it was time to see if I finally caught my fish. The computers they had on-site to help people check their results wouldn't pull my name up. The volunteers directed me to "the van" with several other people. At the van, they told us that they were working on it, and we should go away. A short time later, a new line formed at the van, and I walked back over, where I was told that I got 2nd place in my AG! (Don't get too excited yet... I didn't). They were obviously having some troubles, and after stalling as long as they could with the raffle drawings, Evil finally said "Hey everybody, there's a problem with the timing. Go home. Check online. Email us if you won something, and we'll get it to you."
So I did the first couple steps. In the online results, at least at the moment, I got both 4th and 5th in my division, separated by 10 seconds. Both 4th and 5th? Yeah.. they were having some issues. The one that actually matches my watch and bib number is the one in 5th place. Who is #4? I don't know. Maybe Beef. Whoever he was, I hope he gets his name back (and I also hope he's in a different age group!). Until further notice... 5th AG, 32nd overall.
I can't complain. I had a great race today. I felt good, ran well, and ended up with a new 5k PR. In the race against all the other "me"s who have done this course in the past, I was first overall, even though I'm older than all those other schmucks. So I'll just have to make my own fish trophy.