On your mark, get set, GO! I’m tucked in just behind the front runners. We cross the timing mat and I stay on the left side of the road. Since I’m not in prime 5k form, I know racing smart is clutch to get the best time possible. I gotta run the shortest route possible which means hugging the road closest to the turns, running the tangents and drafting behind folks as needed. It also means pacing well….

5K pacing is tough. Run out too fast early and you have nothing left in the tank to push and sacrifice ruining your overall time. Run too conservative early on because you’re worrying about blowing up and you have too much time to make up to hit your goal. I went into training for this race with a big lofty goal.