Race Report: Red, White, & Blue Shoes 5k

Ughhh ok, first the bitching:
This race perpetually has a problem with an insanely long wait to get your bib on race morning, and then the race tends to start late. The race actually started on time today, but the line was still ridiculous. YES I should have gotten there earlier knowing this was a problem, but still... when you have ONE table of volunteers for a race this size, things are going to move slowly.

Line in front of me... arrow is where the table is.

Line behind me... it wraps around the stadium. 

This was with ~30 mins to go before race start.

I made it through the line in about 20 minutes, missed the team photo, but got to the start line with about 10 minutes to spare. Frustrating, but oh well. I did actually get the size shirt I wanted, which is the first time that's ever happened.

The course was new this year, with a different starting area and a different finish path. Generally I'll say I liked the changes, especially the finish which wraps around the back of the stadium (downhill) before entering the field for the dash to the 50-yard line instead of past years which took you UPhill around the front of the stadium for the same finish.

Anyway, actual race & running talk:

To start off, my legs are SORE today from lifting Monday and speedwork yesterday. I didn't have any plans or goals, just race a good steady race. I didn't do any running warm-ups, but I biked to the race (~3 miles from home) so my legs weren't totally asleep.

I started off and pretty quickly settled into what felt like a good pace. It was comfortably hard, but I was fairly certain I wasn't pushing into PR territory. The course loops through campus and is generally flat. It skips "The Hill" at the back of the lake, but you do have to climb a little right at the start of mile 3 to get up from the lake to the Mall. From there, it's a straight shot down the mall, around the PAC circle, and downhill to the back entrance of the stadium.

Generally I didn't push to "redline" territory but held a steady pace, and my splits showed just that:

Consistent.

'Merica

Not a PR, but solidly back into sub-23 territory, and for a midsummer race in the south, I'm just fine with that. Plus, it was good enough for a 2nd AG finish!