The zanesville 5k

I ran the Zanesville 5k yesterday (6/22). This was my 3rd or 4th time running it. I heard there were 25 runners this year. I think I finished in 10th place. I ran a 26:07, which was a little slower than the 25:51 I ran last year. I'm not entirely sure this is a full 3.1 miles though, but it's close. It was a hot and humid morning, and once again I stayed out a little too late last night. I wasn't feeling in the best running shape, but I went without knee supports again and they felt fine. That made it a win as far as I'm concerned.

I don't really care for this course because there aren't any flat spots in it. You're either going up hill or down hill; plus you just run to a point east of town and turn around and run back. But this race has sentimental value to me. The first 5k I ever ran was here in 2008. Jane and I ran it together in 33 minutes. I'm not sure how long they've been having it but the lady today said they only had 5 runners the first year.

The winner this year ran 17:43 (I think). He was in my age bracket too (50-59). There weren't very many younger runners, and it wasn't exactly a strong field. Only 1 woman beat me. I had a kid who looked like he was in middle school or early high school that was right in front of me the whole way. I tried to pass him a few times, but it seemed to be his goal was just to beat me. At the end I decided the gentlemanly thing to do was to let him win. He probably would have beat me anyway though.

It was kind of funny.... After the race I was standing there talking to two other guys. I knew Steve already but not the other guy. It turned out it was Mark Cleveland (pastor of The River). It just struck me as kind of odd that we were all three pastors.

I will take a couple weeks off but I would like to find a few more 5k's to run this summer. Oh, and they had red shirts this year. Last year they were bright orange. I'm not a real fan of red shirts on myself - though I'm still wearing it as I type this...