Beaten by an Olympian

I ran in the Run for the Grapes 5K today in Tontitown.

Just last week I was hoping for some cooler temperatures where I could prove that I'm in better shape than ever.  Today, I got my chance.

It was about 65F but felt even cooler than that.  Maybe it just seemed that way compared to the recent high temps we've endured.  The course is relatively flat too, by NW Arkansas standards anyway.  It is very nice to run on a certified course, where you know the distance is correct.  My only concern for this race was some lingering pain in my left calf, though that actually might have helped me in retrospect.  I rested a lot more than usual this week.

I had some lesser goals for the race but they seem somewhat moot now.  My ultimate, long-term goal was to break 18:40, a 6 minute-per-mile pace.  Today I did it, I ran 18:36.



That was a 38 second improvement over my previous PR. I was 5th out of 312 runners overall and 2nd out of 25 in my age group. The guy who beat me was Reuben Reina, an 8-time All-American at Arkansas, who then went on to run the 5K at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.  Yeah, I think I'm OK with losing to him.