5K O.K.!

Ran my first 5K this morning. It was pretty awesome. I placed 165 of 303(ish -- I forget the exact number already), with a time of 27:30 (just under a 9 minute mile), 11th place (probably last) for my age group (30-34). Many of the people there were Serious Runners, coming in with times 10 minutes or more faster than me. Still, I'm pleased with my performance. In fact, I think I could have shaved a minute off of my time if I hadn't started near the back of the pack. I didn't know how they were going to arrange us for the start, so I just mixed in with the mob and suddenly the gun went off and there I was stuck at the back with people going much slower than I wanted to. I had to put on some speed to get around them and into a position where I could trot comfortably for the next mile or so, with plans to go all out the last half mile. Turned out getting around the slower group used up that energy. Oh well. Next time I'll know what I'm doing.

Also, there was a lady there in the 60+ age group. She ran with her two dogs(!). Actually, several people ran with dogs or baby joggers, which was very cool. But this lady stopped for her dogs to poop, cleaned up after them, and still finished with a time in the mid 30s. I hope I can do that when I'm her age.