Tiki Trot 5K -- 17:55.9

 I ran a good challenging fast 5 km race this morning, in Pacifica. The Tiki Trot 5K was put on by Pacifica Runners and I knew many of the organizers and runners. It was fun doing an in-person race again.

Looking around at my competition before the race, I recognized Jason Reed who had beaten me in this race before and who is typically faster than me. I recognized Brandon Heiken who I knew had been training well, and was likely faster than me. My guess was a 3rd place finish, and I was right! But it didn't go down like that.

I tried to remember to not start off with a sprint. The start is a gentle downhill slope and it's easy to get carried away. A few minutes after 8am, and we were off! This time with chip timing. Jason seemingly sprinted out in front. I felt at ease, like I was holding back, but was still perhaps running too fast. I slowly caught up and passed Jason in the first mile.

Then a short while later, Brandon passed me. I congratulated him. Then this young guy passed me. Whoah! For the first time, this race was on the RRCA circuit, and so it attracted some speedsters. This guy was probably one of those speedsters. He passed Brandon, too.

They slowly pulled away from me and I pulled away from those behind me. I tried to keep a consistent effort, but I slowed down on the flat rocky dirt and sand, and slowed down again on the final uphill. (About 2/3rd of the course is on dirt.)

I was feeling desperate. I probably could have sprinted to the finish line a little sooner, but I waited until I could actually see it.

Under 18 minutes! I think that was the fastest I have ever run a 5 km race. I even beat my track time from January, and this course is definitely slower than a track. I got a special RRCA medal for being first in the 50+ age group. (That sounds so old, but I'll take it!)

Cool! It was fun hanging out with Lauren and Mor. It is kind of nice to have this whole race experience compressed into about 90 minutes (including warm-up and cool-down runs, and the after-race awards and raffles).

Results.

Strava.