Catch Me If You Can 5k
For whatever reason, I figured running this five-kilometer race would feel easy. Maybe it’s because I ran challenging marathons each of the last two weekends with satisfying results. My fitness after those two tests seemed decent and this race would be less than a tenth their distance. In addition, last month at a 5k held on dirt trails with hills, I ran 21:01.
Surely, then, I could run this course in under 21 minutes, right?
I’ll keep this post short and simple: no!
There were a few things that prevented me from doing so. There was a bit of a traffic jam on the Poudre Trail with female runners starting three minutes before the chasing men. It was cold (albeit sunny outside). I got a side stitch yet again before the midway point. There was ice about 10 meters before the finish line, which I slipped on and had to cease sprinting to not to take a fall.
Mostly, though, it probably comes down to conditioning. I just didn’t have the speed today.
Oh well. At least I took home a division win. And a heart-shaped pie for that effort. Green Events always puts on fun races. This was no exception.
Race Data
Final time: 21:29 (6:57/mile)
Overall place: 10/253
Division place: 1/16
Official results (timing was off by 33 seconds)
![Red "Taken" stickers at the 2019 Catch Me If You Can 5k & 10k race.](https://felixwong.com/gallery/thumbs/c/catch-me-if-you-can-5k-2019-001.jpg)
![Runners at the start of the 2019 Catch Me If You Can 5k.](https://felixwong.com/gallery/thumbs/c/catch-me-if-you-can-5k-2019-002.jpg)
![Felix Wong passing women who got a three-minute head start in the 2019 Catch Me If You Can 5k.](https://felixwong.com/gallery/images/c/catch-me-if-you-can-5k-2019-003.jpg)
![I received this heart-shaped pie (made by Me Oh My in LaPorte) for winning my age group.](https://felixwong.com/gallery/thumbs/c/catch-me-if-you-can-5k-2019-004.jpg)