I raced....and won!!

So, I bit the bullet and ran the inaugural Dewey Decimal Dash 5K in Sturgis on Saturday evening. It's a fundraiser for the Sturgis Public Library and included a 2 mile walk and kid's run. For some inexplicable reason, the folks in Sturgis have a thing for starting races at 5 PM, right in the heat of the day. This was the third 5K I've run there (all different events) and the temps at race time have been 85, 100 and then 95 today. Not exactly conducive to a PR. Also, they have a thing for running these 5Ks up one particular street that includes a pretty good climb. Two of the three events have included this street even though there's a perfectly good, flat, fast route through the city park. In any case, we made the trip down to Sturgis and started off the festivities with the kids race, which my son and daughter (3 and 2 years old respectively) both ran. It was my daughter's first race. The race "course" was approximately 5 parking spaces long in the bank parking lot across from the library. My son, who routinely runs between 1/4 and 1/2 mile with me, was perplexed by this, but went with the flow. They both did great, although my daughter was a little unsure of the whole scene. She's shy and a bunch of strangers yelling and cheering was a little unnerving. The goody bags each of the kids got perked her up though.

The walkers took off just before the 5K started, my wife and sister in law with the kids in the stroller included. Once the walker crowd was gone, it was obvious that there wasn't going to be a high level of competition at this event. All of 9 runners remained to start the 5K. One of them was my sister in law's friend, Jake, who had run a 17 minute 5K in high school.....2 years ago. All nine of us lined up (believe it or not, not all in the front row), the bell rang, and we were off. The course immediately took off up a hill (it was basically uphill for the entire first half) and Jake took the lead with me close behind. I was wondering how fast Jake was going to push this thing and then, as we made the first turn at the top of the first hill, I took the lead. I heard him huffing behind me for a few more blocks and then he dropped back and that was the last I heard of anyone the rest of the way.

Ended up with my second victory ever, the first coming earlier this summer in a 4 mile race where I squared off with 6 other runners. Apparently, I'm quite the cherry picker. Can you tell that there's not much of a running community around here? Anyhow, I ended up running a 21:20, which is over a minute slower than my PR. I had absolutely no ambition to push it in the heat and, after I passed Jake three blocks into the race, I didn't have anyone to push me. Given the circumstances, it's an okay time and I ended up with some hardware and a great post-race meal, so I can't complain about that. Sub-20 will have to wait for another, cooler, day....