Highland Fling 5K - Mike Nelson

1st place, 16:10

Decided to hop in this 5k with Spencer. I was going into it tired so I knew it wouldn't be spectacular. Met up with Scott and Spencer for a warm up and ran the course.

Scott was still in recovery and said he was going to take it easy. Gun went off and Spencer jumped quickly into the lead! A high schooler named Tyler A(something something) took it out at an honest pace. The first 1/4 mile is uphill (1.5% grade). The next 1.4 are about the same grade down. Mile split was 5:04. The pace was about what I was looking for so I was content to let Tyler lead.

The second mile he lagged a little and I passed him. He surged ahead and retook the lead. We did that 3 times during the second mile. By the end of the second mile I was starting to feel it. Split was 5:10. With 3/4 mile to go we turned north and headed back up towards the start line. It was about 2% grade. I was tired enough at the point I gave up the idea of a good time and decided to try and hold on for the win.

The pace slowed quite a bit but I just stuck on Tyler's shoulder and let him pull me up the hill. With about 1/4 to go I was trying to decide if it was time to make my move when I heard foot steps. Someone was about to pass, not surprising as we had slowed to > 5:30 pace. To my surprise it was Scott!

That was enough to convince me it was time to go. I hit it hard and passed Tyler and Scott and sprinted through to the finish. Garmin put my last 0.25 at ~62s.

Last 1.1 was 5:56.

It was a fun one.  Scott and I did another 9 on the murdock trail before calling it a day.