Racing

I decided to take a break from marathons this fall, but I did run a few shorter races. At the beginning of November I ran a 5km along the canals of Phoenix, near Chelsey's parents' house. I finished in 18:31, which is 30 seconds faster than I've run over that distance in three years. This weekend I wrapped up my fall season with a 10km at the Heard Museum West in Surprise, AZ.
The season couldn't have ended better, as I won the race - the first time I've won a race in 11 years. It's a smaller race, which I knew before and was a big reason I had a chance to win. Everything pretty much set up perfectly. The course was a 5km loop which the 10km runners did twice. There was also a 5km race, which started at the same time, which meant I could follow the 5km runners for one lap before going out on my own. (As it turned out, though, only the 5km winner was in front of me after one lap). There was another 10km runner about 20 seconds in front of me heading into the final lap, giving me someone to chase. After I caught up and moved into the lead, there were lapped runners to pass and chase, so I could keep my focus forward. About the only thing that wasn't great was my left achilles tendon, which began to hurt with about a mile to go, but I held on for about a 10-second victory.
There was a little bit of confusion at the finish line: There was a lady there saying "5km finishers". I said "10km", I guess she wasn't ready for a 10km finisher yet because she told me to keep going. I thought she meant there was a separate finish chute a few yards away, which races sometimes do, but after running another few yards, I realised she was just confused. So the results were messed up a little bit, not that it was terribly important. Fortunately, the second-place finisher was quite classy about it, and at the medal ceremony he made sure the race officials got the right order. I appreciated the good sportsmanship.
-Jason