Well, the time is not a personal best, but something else made this race even more exciting. I won! This is my first ever win, and I have to say it feels great! A win is a win, no matter the time.

This is a smaller race in Temecula, which is about an hour north of San Diego. It runs through the Temecula winery area (read beautiful). When the gun went off, a bunch of little kids sprinted from the start line, but I quickly reeled them back in. I was in the lead until just before the turn around point. Another runner about my age passed me, though I never let him put much distance between us. A bit after the turn around I realized we only had less than 1.5 miles to go, and I was not going to give up the victory. I closed the gap to only 15-20 feet and just paced off of him for a minute. Once I could tell he was slowing a little, I passed with a purpose (thanks Matthew L.) and held on as best as I could for the remainder. At the final turn back into the winery, I peeked over my shoulder and noticed he had dropped back about 20 seconds. I knew I had it as long as I could make it up the drive way, which was about 100 meters long and maybe an 8-10% grade. Yikes! Tough finish!

They interviewed me after I finished and caught my breath. I heard someone ask the 2nd place finisher about me and he said, "He was just too strong." Yeah, that made my day. :)

I am officially going to train for a 5K now. I have only run 5K races before and after marathons. I would like to see what I could do if I put in the specific training. Curious. I have a February race targeted.

The weather was 45 degrees when we arrived. Within the hour (before the race) it shot up to the 80s. It was HOT! The course was partially on a dirt road with these bumps or ridges all throughout. The footing was very loose and it was tough to land properly. There was a quick little drop and rise back, almost like a half pipe, and then a very gradual climb, nothing steep, up to the turn around.

I won a medal, a pair of Injinji socks at the raffle, and a $10 gift card to one of the local running stores. They also gave me a second medal for winning my age group. You would think they would have taken the overall winners out, but I guess not. Finally, every runner was able to do some wine tasting, and I actually enjoyed the three that I sampled.