Cougar Challenge almost 5K

I got up this morning and started to get ready for my race this morning. I ate some pancakes, glad I got up a little earlier then normal. My daughter woke up just in time to go, it had been along time since she's gone to a race with me so it was a rare treat. She doesn't run but likes to go and watch. I got there got my shirt. I thought it was supposed to be a windshirt but was just a cotton long sleeve tshirt. I did about a mile warm up. The 2 people that told me they were going to be at the race didnt show up but I saw about a dozen people I knew.

I knew this was a tough course with a few real goo hills. I got to start line and was ready to go while the starter went over the course. And off we went, it started flat, hitting the first big hill about a half mile into it. I kept even effort up it and felt ok at the top. I decided to try to run it at what felt like an even pace, there were no mile markers. I caught up to a runner I know Tom "Kquicky" and ran with him for a while. We kind of pulled each other along. We hit the next big hill, I knew it was up the hill and back down. I also knew kquicky was a strong finisher so I figured if I stuck with him I might finish good. We got back down the hill still together and I knew the next section wasnt a bad hill more of a long small slant. And it also was about a half mile to finish line. You went down this section then looped to the left and had a short straight away of about 100 yards or so lined with the cars parked for race. Kind of cool. Kquicky had pulled ahead of me and I just tryed to hang close. Then I saw th clock and tryed to sprint to the finish. Well for me its a sprint, I crossed the finish line clock read 23:53. I thought I had run a PR I never been in 23's before and been a while since I had even been in 24's. I knew this was a tough course so I was shocked.

But the joy was short lived. A couple of people with GPS watchs said it was short. And talking to how many people had run a good time on this route made me think it may be short. Then at the awards the race director said they thought it was short a tenth of a mile. I figure it was between .1 or .2 of a mile short. So I guess I put it down has my 3 mile PR instead of 5K PR. I am in a tough age group, finished 40th overall but didnt place. I had a good time just wish the course had been measured correctly. But given the hills on it I think I might do good on a flat course. I have no more races planned till the Cleveland Marathon this one just fell at the perfect time, The Glover schedule had a 5k race this weekend.