Sunshine Run 5k/10k

Time: 85:32
Distance: 15 miles

After getting some coffee and hanging out in the Holiday Inn Express for about an hour. Scotty D. and I started our w/u. I went for 15:45 on part of the course. Things felt fine.

The race started and I was content to follow the leaders. I felt really fresh and was sitting in 3rd at the mile in 5:02. We were running into a headwind with four guys in the lead group. Scotty D. was a few seconds back but was making up ground. At the two mile mark things were pretty much the same. Somewhere around a mile to go a runner from Kansas made a move to the front and started pushing the pace. I followed and it was soon just the two of us. I ran behind him through 3 miles in 14:59 (a 9:56 2 mile split from mile 1 to 3), then took off with about 250m to go. I held the lead to win comfortably in 15:30. Results here.

Scotty D. and I jogged for 10:08 between races. On the c/d we spotted a Kenyan and I realized things were gonna be mixed up for the 10k. After elevating my legs for a few minutes it was time to start moving around again.

The race started and Mike Brashears (former OSU guy) went to the front. He wasn't wearing a shirt and had on a pair of Adrenaline 6's. I followed a few meters back and went through the mile in 4:55. A bit quick. I was hoping to relax and see if I could reel him in but I wasn't feeling great. Around 1.5 miles the Kenyan scurried past me and I thought I was done. I just went from winning $300 to $100 with that move. However, by 2.5 miles the Kenyan and Brashears were running side by side and the pace was slowing. I was able to make up some ground by 3 miles and by 5k I was right on the heals of the Kenyan. Brashears was able to hang on just past the 5k before dropping back. To this point, I hit splits of: 4:55.77, 5:05.13 and 10:12.93 (miles 3 and 4). The Kip and I were cruising along at 4 miles in 20:13. I was content to just sit on him and share some of the pacing duties just not to let others back in the race. The police lead car took a wrong turn that we didn't know was off until after the race, but it made mile 5 short. I turned in a 4:29 and knew something was off. The Kenyan and myself continued to run together through mile 6 of 4:58.18. We hit the warning track of the stadium and the Kenyan inched ahead but I was going to wait until the final 40m to really make a move. I hit the ugly sprint button as we hit the final straightaway and I started inching closer. With 20m to go we were neck and neck, and then I moved ahead. The Kenyan responded and we both leaned at the tape for the win. I thought I got it. He thought he got it. We didn't learn that he had won until about an hour later when the results were posted. I got fucked out of $200. It was a good race regardless to finish in 30:40, though I figure it was 30 seconds slow b/c of the wrong turn we took. Final results. C/d 13:29 with Scotty D. then drove back to Norman.

Oh yea, the Kenyan was Benson Chesang formerly of Kansas.