Green Hope 5K

[Photos taken by Shannon Johnstone. More pictures of the race here.]

"We have to be smart and just take it easy and rest these next two weeks before the Marathon", Shannon was saying, "No more racing."
"Absolutely.", I said. And then about 1 minute later "There's is a flat 5K in Cary with a downhill finish this Saturday."
"OH! Lets do it!"

So we signed up for the Green Hope 5K, hoping for a stellar, personal record setting time.
I had just run my fastest time ever in the Torch 5K last Saturday, and that was a pretty hilly course. So now with the promise of this fast course, I had gone past over-confidence and into delusion.

I saw that Paul P. was doing the race (Paul is a super fast runner, as well as a major smart ass), and I posted some smack talk on his facebook page, thinking I might be able to keep up with him.

"Uh oh. Is that your name I see on the green hope 5k list? Today could be the day I pass you old man. If I do, don't feel bad. There's always the geezer pleezer"

When the race started, all the young high school kids took off at like a 5 minute mile, but I let them go, sticking to a conservative pace. But even with that, I was completely out of gas after the first mile. The last half mile was downhill, finishing on the track at the Green Hope High School, which would have been very nice if I had the energy to take advantage of it, but instead I slowed down. When I entered the track, Paul was already on the other side approaching the finish. Damn.

Shannon finished soon after, posting a good time, despite not getting in much running since Uwharrie. She did get this great picture of this guy finishing:

After the race, Shannon was delighted to discover that they were serving pancakes. So we hung out, ate pancakes, and talked to local running super star Jennifer Curtin.

Then we saw my nemesis Paul, standing above us on the bleachers, "Hey! Next time you should wait and post the smack talk after the race!"

Yes. Next time...