Kickoff 5k

I was finally able to kickoff my racing season this morning (see what I did there?) at the Kickoff 5k in Leawood, KS. My uncle Mike has been running road races for a couple of years and I was excited to get the chance to run a race with him. After the extreme cold snap this past week the weather warmed up quickly and we had temperatures in the mid 50's this morning for the start of the race. It felt amazing to run a race on February 3rd in shorts and a t shirt.

The route had a good combination of hills and flats and proved to be a good early season challenge. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this race but knew that I had been running well lately. Everything went well from the start of the race and I was feeling good as I reached the 1 mile marker in a time of 8:53. I kept pushing hard in hopes that my legs would not let me down and they didn't.

I ended up crossing the finish line in a time of 27:51 setting a new 5k PR besting my previous PR by 9 seconds. I finished 6/17 in my age group and 104/556 overall. Uncle Mike crossed the line shortly after I did and we enjoyed some post race food before I showered and headed for home.

Hanging with Uncle Mike before the race

Officially broke 9:00/mi average

As mentioned in a previous post, my goal for the year is to PR at every distance, and starting my year off by checking a 5k PR off my list is very exciting and motivating. I'm hoping to keep the success rolling at the St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon on March 16th. The time to beat will be 2:16:18.