Race season begins again! This was a local 5k with 440 people total doing it, so pretty small, but a pretty great after-party. This was my third year in a row doing it, so I knew the course quite well- an out and back with fifteen or so 90-degree turns. I didn't see any runners I knew and then all of a sudden Nick Miehe pops out of nowhere, possibly the last person I'd expect at a 5k road race. I knew I wasn't in his class if he was in shape, but I was excited to hang on for fun as long as I could. I took the first mile in 5:09, and wondered why he was not about 5-10 seconds ahead of me, so I looked back and saw him about 30 seconds back with 2 other guys. I was utterly shocked. Mile 1.5 clicked through at the same exact pace, and turned around and fortunately saw them about 45 seconds back. I was grateful for this as my legs were slowly cramping. I didn't realize it at the time, but he was apparently running with his dog, so that explains the 17:41 finish. The rest of the race was taxing in the sun and (un)fortunately at the end- as I wasn't close enough to break 16 to worry about breaking it- I didn't have to do any sprinting or speed up at all. I was very thankful for that as I had some terrible leg cramps by that point. It ended up being a weeny PR, slicing a couple extra seconds off, so that's always nice. I really don't understand this cramping issue I continue to battle in races, and seemingly races only. During the cooldown I was literally limping for the first mile until my heart rate dropped. This cramping happened last year and the year before that in this exact same race, and likely will happen in the 10k race in a month- as it has happened the last two years there, too. I'm guessing it's overheating related at this point, but I don't know for sure, just that it tends to be the most severe in summer races. Rough Splits (poor gps) Mile 1- 5:09 Mile 2- 5:20 Mile 3- 5:24 Finish- 0:22 | 