APSU Homecoming 5k

Man, my third weekend in a row of racing, shortly after coming back from an injury.  Not the smartest, but at least I played the first race smart and was hoping to not overdue this one.  I really didn't have a plan here.  I was leaning towards the usual "5k at 10k effort."  If you're in shape, that's not strenuous enough for a good workout but it would serve its purpose for where I currently am.

I got to this race later than I wanted and had some trouble parking, so I had to cut my warm-up in half.  It was cold and really windy and I didn't know much about the course.  However, Justus David showed up.  I've never met Justus but he's a Kenyan and sub 29 10k guy and looking at him, I feel like I should join Jenny Craig.  He won the Middle Half a couple of weeks back, beating Daniel Kirwa (I've never beaten him), so I knew the race would be for second.  It also meant I would lose to a Tennessee runner for the first time in nearly two years (Stewart Ellington gave me my last whooping at the 2011 Tom King).  With Justus there, I was just going to be a sitting duck.  Some of you are thinking "you never know, you could win" but yeah, I do know.

The race started down a curvy, steep downhill.  I took the lead a couple of hundred meters in and Justus pulled up after a couple of minutes.  We ran side-by-side and zig-zagged through a lot of parking lots, which really made you lose your rhythm.  I didn't see a mile marker but we came through two miles in 10:24.

I was feeling really flat and was waiting for him to leave me.  With about a half mile to go, he took off and I kept my rhythm.  The ending went up the same steep hill you ran down at the beginning and I took my top getting to the top, with a finishing time of 16:14.  The effort wasn't that hard, I just wasn't very motivated and had a hard time turning my legs over. It was also frustrating getting beaten so easily by Justus. I know that if I'm reasonably fit, I can give him a lot of trouble.  Today I got smoked, but one day, Justus will be served!(terrible play on words) At least I got some donuts on the way home, so it wasn't a total bust!