all systems go

I ran the 5K tonight - held back a bit so I didn't aggrevate my hamstring. I really struggled during the warmup, but once the race started, I had a decent race and finished in 18:11. I finished 30 seconds faster last year, but was pretty happy with the result considering my cold, hamstring, vacations, floods, etc.

There were points in the race where I wanted to surge, but I kept reminding myself that this was a low priority race and I didn't want to re-injure myself, so I held back - I always regret holding back in a race, knowing I could have done a little better.

The finish was particularly interesting, there was a group of 5 of us. One of my corporate team mates was right behind me. He was well in front of me most of the race, but I somehow passed him at about 2.5 miles. The race finishes with a short steep hill, then about 150 meter flat to the chute. On the way up the hill, my team mate passes me, and I tell myself not to chase him or I could get injured (I was very conflicted on this point, but tired enough to let him go). He passed the three guys in front of us. The guy in front of me started to fall off the pace, so I passed him. Then he comes charging from behind, so I start sprinting and end up passing the guy in front of me, who in turn starts sprinting. It was somewhat questionable where the actual finish line was, and the guy at the finish yells something as we pass him (I think he said 'you two are tied'), but in the chute the guy second guy I passed steps in front of me, giving him 10th position overall and I had 11th. I probably shouldn't have started sprinting, or I should have charged the hill sooner so I didn't have to sprint so hard.

Anyway, exciting finish and no injuries.

Time for bed.