King Tiger 5K 6.6.09

After several hot days, the rain finally arrived in Charlotte on Thursday night and Friday morning. A few hours passed with the hot sun burning down in the afternoon and then more rain followed Friday night. However, Saturday morning dawned cool.

This was much different from the proceeding year’s King Tiger run. With temps in the 60s everyone was excited by running Saturday morning.

Close to the end of my warm up, I looked up and was surprised to see Chris L. coming long the road. I had no idea that Chris intended to run today. Definitely, having him in the race gave TrySports a good opportunity to push for the win.

7:30 rolled around and everyone gathered at the starting line. Baby joggers were off first followed by everyone else 1 minute later. Although, I could have used a little louder “Go” command as Tim just yelled “Go” from 40 yards away.

Chris gathered speed early and appeared to be positioning himself well for the middle miles. Likewise, I was running with Greg and Steve. Passing through the mile, I was feeling a little better than expected and had this strange idea of trying to stay with Greg even thou he is about 25 seconds faster than I am for a 5k.

By 2 miles from what I could see Chris was starting to open a gap. Greg was definitely pulling away from me, but I was getting a little gap over Steve. Turning up the worst hill on the course, Nathan came up on my shoulder looking very strong.

He gapped me easily by the top of the hill. I thought I might be able to recovery on the downhill side, but Nathan caught the runner in front of me and they started racing. This pretty much ended any chance that I might have of catching him.

Turning the last corner, it was a quick spring to the finish. 17:19 as I passed under the clock. This was good enough for ninth overall and first male master.

Thinking back maybe I should have tried to stay with Nathan up the hill. But that is “could-a-would-a-should-a” type of thinking. I didn’t and that is how the history books will record it.

After doing the course again with Nathan, Bo, Stan, and Jinnie + doggie, I headed over to the awards ceremony. Like last year, they gave Martial Arts belts as age group awards. Now, I have two of these belts but I am still not sure what to do with them.

And Chris did win the overall with a 16:16. So TrySports Team ended the day by taking the open male and master’s male titles.

Going into the race, I was clearly expecting Steve to blast away from me. Much like he did during last year’s race. I am still not sure why he didn’t. I didn’t get a chance to ask him afterwards. The next GP race is not for another 5 weeks. My legs should be completely recovered in that time.