Awesome Blossom Run Report - REVISED

Here's the recap...  I'll try to make it short. 

My goal was to drop my current PR at the Awesome Blossom 5 mile from 30:32 to below 30 min.  I figured I could ptentially go 28:45 in ideal conditions, 29:30 was more reasonable.  With 4th of July weekend, travel, less than the best sleeping conditions, etc, by the time we'll get to the race (which end up about 15 minutes before the start of the 5 mile) the best case scenario to race was not happening.   I started warming up and figured I'd run near by and wait till the last minute to go to the line. I got about 15 minutes of warm up in and finally they starting calling out that the race is going to start in a few minutes.  I headed to the start line and saw Dominic Trom there--we started talking about who was there and who wasn't, as far as prior winners were concerned.  The 1 & 2 guys from last year weren't there and from what I could tell, Dom was the only guy there that has finished ahead of me in the previous 3 years. The other guys have the fastest times on the course in the 25's ad 26's which I know I can't touch.  So it was pretty much Dominics race, but before we started he told me that he hasn't ran in a month (what, a month?) and was having ITB tightness issues.  I'm always dealing with something, so... ok.   So we stood around talking for about another 10 minutes which doesn't help things.  The director goes thru the pre-race stuff and covers the course changes. Basically, the route is two squares on flat neighborhood streets. The changes just had us go up to a different block and down another one.  Nothing even noticable. During the race I didn't even know there was a change.  BANG!  he fires the gun and we're off. Within about 100 feet I was in first, with Dom close behind.  At about the 1 mile mark Dom is about 100 feet back, but during the next mile, he continued to close the gap.  At 2 miles we are back at the start/finish area and begin a 3 mile loop.  I was seriously thinking of hanging it up at that point as I was suffering so bad! At the first corner after 2 miles, Dom was just about on my heals--maybe 20, maybe 30 feet back.  I figured he was going to hover there untl the last stretch.  I hit 3 miles at 17:27.  The next corner was a few blocks up and when I turned I looked back I see that the gap between Dominic and I is about 50 yards.  At that point I was just praying that the 4 mile mark was coming up soon--or course it was a long way off.  I looked back a couple more times and our gap was slowly growing; mile 4 it was a good 75 yards.  On the last stretch of about 100 yards I knew I was safe, but just kept pace.  29:10 was my final time--5:50 pace.  Dominic was 2nd--he said just under 30. 

For the 2 miler, Jace and Garsen (friend of Jace's) took 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the 2 mile, Age Group 10-14.  Unofficially, just came in at 14:45--last year he ran it in 14:44.  Carin ran the 2 miler and unofficially ran it in 20:31.  She just started getting back into it by doing some jog/walks, but say she just paced at a below painful level and made it a goal to not walk.  We're thinking she was 4th in her AG because during the awards she recognized all the women that placed 3rd thru 1st.  We cleaned up after the race and went to the Blooming Prairie Old Fashioned 4th of July festivities. Lots of vendors, merchandise and food, set up in the park and stayed for the parade that started at 2:30--we have some relatives that live right on the main street that the parade goes down.  Here are some photo's:  

start of the 2 mile

Jace, Mario, Garsen

Jace coming into the finish

Jace crossing the line



Garsen out sprinting a much older female competitor



Jace and Garsen



Carin coming in to the finish





Deep Fried Twinkie w/ whipped cream and caramel sauce from one of the vendors - Garsen ate that thing