Photos from the Run Minnesota Spring 5K

Last Friday, I did a 5K time trial because the following day was a spring 5K hosted by Run Minnesota that I was going to have to miss. From what I've seen/heard, the race seemed to go well. I learned through race buddy Tom R's photos that there were 26-30 runners in each of the 3 waves that went off 5 minutes apart. Here are some of his photos from the day:

The first wave starting.


I see teammate Mike back there in orange!




Hi Mike! (He's removed his mask from 2 photos above.)


Tom on the right. Thanks for sharing these photos, Tom!


BT friend Emily.


Heading out.

Zoom lenses compress space a bit, so I know that these runners are more spread out than it looks here.

Five minutes later was wave 2:

Wave 2.






Teammate and race buddy Jamie lead out this wave!


Go Jamie!


Bobby P on the right.




Hi Gloria!

And wave 3 was the final wave:

Race buddy Evan lead out this wave!




It's not a race if Kirt isn't there.


70+ year old Don!




Bringing up the rear was a race walker, and someone starting
REALLY late back there (maybe for social distancing reasons?).

First and second were both in the first wave, and here they are about to finish in 17:15 and 17:31:

Looking good for a 40-year-old holding 5:30 pace!


More first-wave finishers.


Because of COVID, there were no finish line events. This is it. Beautifully low-key.


I can always spot an Ironman hat.


Tom finishing!

Teammate Jamie (in the 2nd wave) was actually 3rd overall in 18:36! Here he is coming to the line, and the "cute" thing is that his (our) teammate Mike is back there in the photo as well:

Go Jamie and Mike!


71-year-old Mike busting out a 24:35 5K! #LifeGoals


Evan always has the best finishing faces!


Emily!


I don't know this guy, but I love a good finishing sprint!...


... he's FLYING.


Kirt finishing.


Gloria coming to the line.


I would not have the coordination to do that at the end of a race.


More finishers.


The first part of the results: Jamie in 3rd, Evan in 6th, and Bobby, Tom, and Kirt in there as well.

I mean, I HATE doing this, but I still always do this: I think I could have come in 3rd. Lately, I've been faster than Jamie, but I don't know what his winter training has looked like. And it was hillier than my 5K the day before, so that would have slowed me down. But I push a bit more in an *actual* race (I think most people do), so that would have sped me up. MAYBE I would have finished around a similar time as my 17:49 effort the previous day? I know the 2 leaders would have pulled me more, but could I have kept up with 2nd place? Who knows. It would have been fun/horrible. I'm a little bummed I missed it.

Evan commented on my 5K post with his thoughts of the race:

The Hopkins 5km was fun. You definitely had a faster course, this was the first loop of the Ron Daws 25km, which is rolling hills with one particularly sharp one at 3.8k. It wasn't super competitive either below 20 minutes, so you might not have gained much by being there.

Still, it's a "free for members" race that I'll have to keep on the radar for next year! Here's Tom's album of photos if you want to see more, and here are the full results.