So I ran my second 5K race on Sunday. Was a beautiful, cool morning along the scenic seaside village and marina of Downtown Long Beach, California.
There were 486 runners. I expected a whole lot more, but I'm glad there wasn't because there were some narrow passages along the seaside village where only 3-4 wide could pass through.
Because of my expected pace, I started near the middle of the pack. Here's the scene at the starting line.
I took off faster then I had planned, because I was trying to maneuver between a lot of walkers, not to mention the race day adrenalin. Strava reported at 1/2 mile a full minute faster pace than I wanted. Oh well.
About 3/4 miles in, I got a beautiful view of the Queen Mary. I just had to stop and take a pic.
So a mile in, I finally settled in on a pace, but had to take a few walking breaks every once in a while. I kept on seeing a husband and wife pushing their jogging stroller, so I decided that they're the right pace for me for the middle part of the race, so I chatted with them for a while. The wife had actually recently completed the C25K herself, so that was nice to hear another C25K success story.
At 2 3/4 miles, I wanted to pick it up at the end. Turned out at that exact moment, a really cute asian girl had just passed me so she became my unintentional pacer. I followed her while admiring her... er... running form... to keep me distracted while pushing my body faster than I have ever before.
It didn't last very long because she stopped to walk with about 200 m to go. I tried to encourage her and help to pace her, but she declined. So I had to take the finish line on my own. Luckily the crowd pushed me to the finish.
I got my medal and high-fived the Aquarium of the Pacific shark mascot and headed straight for the banana and Gatorade station.
Official race results: I finished at 42:40, placed 295 out of 486, and 35 out of 43 in my division (40-49 Male).
Unofficially, Strava reported a 5K distance time of 42:15. And PRs on all distances up to 5K except 400m where I ran my 2nd fastest. Overall a very good run.
And here's my obligatory Finish Line photo:
