River Run 5k - July 4th

Earlier in the week I found out about a 5k in the Defiance area from my aunt Catherine (check out her blog). There ended up being a big group of us that ended up running. My wife Kim, Lindsay, cousins Ashley and Eric and Lindsay's boyfriend Chad all came out. Most just wanted to finish, Eric wanted to beat his ex girlfriend and I wanted to break my personal record and get under 23 minutes for the 3.1 miles.

I was up at the starting line with all the cross country guys that looked a lot faster than me. We started off and it was pretty much a sprint. I got to the half mile in under 3:15, so I knew I had to slow down a little if I was going to last the whole run. I finally got settled in at a ~7-7:15 per mile pace. Got to the turn around and saw Eric coming up, so he was having a good run too. About 2.5 miles in I caught up to a 17 year old kid and we went back and forth. We passed one other guy on a slight uphill at mile 2.75. Right at mile 3 the kid slowed a little and I passed him (woo-hoo). Then as we came into the home stretch I could hear his footsteps and I was in a dead sprint. He ended up passing me right at the end, I finished in 22:20, crushing my 23 minute goal.


I ended up being 2nd in my age group (male 25-34), my first real placing. My aunt also got 2nd and my cousin Eric got 3rd in his (and beat his old girl friend). Kim beat her old 5k record and Lindsay, Chad and Ashley all finished strong, and Chad did it in borrowed shoes that were a little too small.




All in all a fun day and maybe a couple more people running.