6 Final Thoughts from Henry's 5K Win

I ended my race report from the ALS SuperHero Dash with a few photos of friends finishing, some photos of Henry playing, and then us heading home. I never really gave my final thoughts on my race and the event in general. So here are my final 6 thoughts:

• For a non-profit "fun run" race, it had mile markers and distances that seemed to be right on. That's surprising at times. I ran 3.12 miles (according to my Garmin), and the mile markers were always right around where it beeped. It was chip timed and the course was certified. That sort of leads into my next point...

• This race confirmed that my 2008 5K PR (which stood for 2+ years) was actually quite short. Possibly not even 3 miles. The Joe Plant 5K was held at Lake Phalen, and we didn't even complete a full lap around the lake. This past weekend, we ran more than a full lap. Here's a photo of Jon and I from the race in 2008 when we were sitting near the finish line post-race. The start line was up at the top of the hill (heading off into the distance) in the background, and then you'd come around the lake to finish in front of us:

WE LOOK LIKE SUCH BABIES!

So I think the 17:26 I ran back then was actually a slower pace than I ran during this weekend's 17:56. In 2008, it was the start of me gaining some speed, so I didn't know what I could do. But I'm convinced that race was short, and this weekend's race was right on.

• This sounds like some sort of "humble brag," but I was a little embarrassed at my margin of victory. I was "that jerk" that showed up and smoked everyone at a charity run. As Henry and I were catching our breath at the finish, I kept waiting for someone else to come through the tunnel. But second place was over 3.5 minutes behind us (and that was a Dad running with his teenage daughter - adorable), which was a little obnoxious. Sorry everyone.

• I ran my own race. When everyone is behind you after 50 feet, it's a race against yourself. It's fun to do that now-and-then to see how much you can really push when it's just "you against you."

• I lapped all but 7 or 8 of the nearly 100 10K runners. Looking at the "gun time," they started about exactly 6 minutes before us. If everyone held a pretty even pace, I would have passed all but the top 7, and maybe 1 more if she had a big negative split. Henry always asked "What are they doing?" when we passed a group of runners.

• This was my first 5K with the stroller, and it was my 5th fastest 5K since high school! (I'm not counting the 17:26 I ran at the Joe Plant 5K because that was obviously more like 18:10ish.) My other 4 better (non-stroller) times were my 17:49 at the 2012 Run for Blood, 17:48 at the 2008 Tesfa 5K, 17:23 at the 2012 Brian Kraft Memorial, and 17:11 at the 2012 Human Race 5K. So it's the fastest I've ran in over 2 years! And WITH my little dude!

No photos have some in yet, but I'll post some when they do. And here's my ALS Superhero Dash race report if you missed it.