We do the warm up. Coach explains the event. My handicap is 18:15. We are told the course is 3 miles, and due to my PRless season, I intend to go ham, knowing it will be a flat course, hoping I can finally drop some time. Clayton starts, I begin five seconds after him. It takes me almost half a mile to catch him. Sprinters. I later discovered we ran at 4:30 pace for a while at the beginning. I eventually pass Clayton, then Kenny. No one else offers any resistance. I keep moving up. I pass lots of people, I run fast. I get to the last 400, and there's a huge pack ahead of me. I kick hard. I pass lots of people. As I cross the line coach says, "33:03." Those of you who know math will note that 33:03-18:15=14:48. The watches tell us 2.85. 14:48. 2.85 miles. That's my time today. I found a race converter on the internet which informed me that I would have run a 15:37 if the race had been a full 3 miles. The goal is 15:30 for region. Based on current rankings, that puts me in 5th, right in front of Haden Penrod, who I 've been really close to beating this season, so it's not too unrealistic. It's only about a minute PR. I've done it before. I'll do it again, especially if it's the only one I get this year. Surely the training has done something, right?
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