17:40

That’s what I ran for a 5k this morning in Riverside, California on the UC-Riverside track. I’m in Riverside spending some time with my brother and sister-in-law (she’s a professor at the University), and I figured I’d see what I could do for a low-altitude 5000.

Fueled by Skittles and Snickers bars from Halloween, I showed up at 9 am on the track (that's when it opened) and gave it a go. It was warm (upper 70s, low 80s) but otherwise perfect conditions (besides general Inland Empire smog, which is definitely gross).

I started off in 5:37 and felt decent, but I faded to 5:43 and then 5:47.

17:40 is ten seconds slower than what I was hoping to run for a 5k this year. But that’s the fastest I’m going to run in 2018. And I’m ok with that. I got in better shape this year and I got close enough to the goal. 17:40 is a good reflection of my fitness; I'm just not quite in 17:30 shape, even at low altitude.

I’m happy with the effort, and I’m ready for a break. My body has felt worked for a couple of months now, and I need an off season. I’m going to take at least a week off and then take some time to think about what to do next.

Fun anecdotes:

• The University XC team was hanging out in the infield doing their warmups and plyometrics. A few of them saw how hard I was working and gave me a few cheers as I did my old man laps.
• On the way back to the car, I was walking by the softball field. A kid who was texting on his phone was walking the other way when a softball came flying over the fence. The softball team shouted “heads,” but the dude was so engrossed in his phone that he had no idea it was coming until it smack the phone out of his hands. The young man was not seriously harmed, but definitely startled. It was funniest thing I have seen in a long time.