Speedwork, me?

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On Saturday, Holli, Elliott, and I packed a picnic and headed to SVSU to enjoy some sun and for me to run a 5k put on by the TKE fraternity. The last time I ran a 5k was right after Elliott was born and it was put on by the Hispanic Student Organization on campus. I'm hoping that eventually there will be enough support that there will be an annual 5k on campus since it is a nice chance to get together with other runners. While they still have some details to work out (e.g. better signs to the start/finish would have saved us from walking all over campus and arriving minutes before the start), the course was well marked and everything was run pretty smoothly. I think there were only around 40 people running.

Now, as regular readers know, I rarely run short distances and I forgot my GPS so I started out with the first wave of runners with some trepidation that I was going too fast. After about 5 minutes I looked around and there was only one person in front of me. I have clearly started out too fast, I thought. After about 13 minutes, someone finally did pass me, but the three of us were at least a minute ahead of the next runner. So I finished 3rd overall and 1st in my age group (over 25) with a final time of 21:13. Now, I realize that all the cross country and track runners were noticeably absent, but that's my first overall placement that didn't involve 15 people ahead of me getting lost on the track (seriously, that happened last 5k at SVSU). I was awarded the fine trophy, pictured above, which has a pleasant 70s-ish look that really compliments our mantle.