The skies turned grey by the time I got home and over to Hookslides, but the temps were still hovering in the 70's. Festus had already left the apt before me in order to get registered and warmed up.
Festus was back for the summer and for the Good Times. He's been away in New Mexico playing the pansy sport of rugby. You can definitely tell he's been bulking up, but I think most of that is due to being in the higher altitude of the west....
(He's baaaaaack!)
My goal for the summer series is pretty simple, to win overall. Not asking for much. My chances improved when I found out that Titus was most likely not going to make it to the first race tonight. My chances went back to being unlikely when I saw that Tim Burke, Jim Rhoades, Frank Georges, and Cody Friehofer were toeing the line for the first race.
Tim ran a couple of the spring races on par with myself, giving me a run for my money at all of them. Jim always kicks my ass, but I'm hoping he sticks to his training regiment of running thousands of miles and only racing once every 10 years when the planets of Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter line up. Frank has been surging and running at about the same level as myself a the GLRR track workouts. Cody would be the X factor. I was able to beat him at the Bedford 12K a month earlier, but that is a longer distance race. He has, however, been cleaning up at most of the 5K races he's run so far this year, and I know that he's capable of a fast 5K. Faster than me.
It looked like it was going to be an intense race from the get go. Most of the runners running tonight were in racing shape, unlike most of the earlier races in the year most are just thawing out from their winter hibernation.
Cody and I led the charge going into the first turn. There was one other runner playing the rabbit tonight, and he went out like a bat. I'd never seen him at these races before, and by the way he sprinted out, I didn't think he would be able to hang onto that pace.
I was right. By the time we got through the first water stop. It was just me, Cody, and Frank. Tim was tempted by tonight's theme and grabbed a box, hoping for the $100 pay day. Jim was somewhere behind us, but not that far behind.
I went through Mile 1 in 5:38 with Frank right next to me. Cody was about 4 seconds in front of us.
As we got onto the road again, Cody had no idea where to go. Being a nice guy and fellow GLRR teammate, I told him to take a right while I cut across the grass, in front of him, like a jackass.
We got onto the Uni Ave bridge together and I told him what to expect over the next mile, and where to go. If I was going to win, then I wanted it to be because I outran him on the same course.
The race was won and lost on the downhill VFW stretch. Cody, using all 8 feet of himself to his advantage, bounded down the VFW and added on about 15 seconds to his lead. My plan now was to just keep him within striking distance, either tonight or in the overall scoring.
I crossed Mile 2 with a split of 5:54.
A new PR was going to be close, but the weekend of running and last night's 5 Miler at Mine Falls had taken its toll on me. I still felt great, but definitely not in PR shape.
I crossed Mile 3 in 5:51, so that's a positive sign as far as maintaining my speed is concerned.
Cody finished 26 seconds in front of me with a time of 17:25, scoring the full 1000 pts for the victory. I got 976 pts for my effort and finished with a time of 17:51 (5:45 pace). Good to be under 18 minutes again, and it didn't feel all that painful.
EJ came out of nowhere and took 3rd overall! Way to go!
Fil missed a Good Times PR by .5 seconds! That's point 5 seconds! That's the difference between telling perverted jokes at the beginning versus not! Right, Fil? :)
Results
Festus got his feet wet and finished with a time of 21:29. I wouldn't be surprised if he ran a 17:30 next Tuesday.
It should be an interesting series with a lot of different story lines going on. Looking forward to see how it all ends.
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