SUB 20 5K! - PEGASUS TURBO at the ROCK N ROLL CHICAGO 5K

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I've been chasing a 20 minute 5k for the past several years. I didn't think I could do it while marathon training. I didn't want to put in the track work. But I've been putting in the miles I've been hitting the track. And today was my one shot in 2018 to hit the mark. I was nervous. I was in the Pegasus Turbo. And people are starting to recognize me from this YouTube channel when I go to races. There was a lot of pressure.

As I prepared for the race, I pretended I knew what I was doing for warmup, and I kept repeating to myself that I needed to pace myself for the first mile. I needed to start slow. Start slow. Start slow. And then there was the countdown: 3, 2, 1. And then I went out way too fast. I was with the lead pack for the first half mile, and I was starting to panic. I let myself drop back from the pack and slowed down to my planned race pace.

Just before the first mile marker, I made a wrong turn. Or rather, I didn't turn. There's a part where the path splits, and I followed the runners ahead of me to the path on the right. The two paths essentially track each other and run parallel (normally, one is for bicycles and one is for pedestrians). And we quickly realized we were in the wrong spot and jumped over. But I was worried that this would result in a DQ. And this really threw me off, mentally. I almost stopped on the spot.

But I kept going. And by mile 2, a couple more people had caught and passed me. And I was feeling heavy. I wasn't tired, my legs didn't hurt, but I couldn't go any faster. And I wanted to stop.

But I kept going. By the 2.5 mile mark, I decided I was going to push. The course was essentially flat at this point, and the area that had a significant headwind as I was warming up was now calm. I could start hearing the crowd. And I could see the finishing gates.

I couldn't see the official time until I was past the 3 mile mark. I knew I was cutting it close. And for a moment, I could see that I could just as easily make it as miss it.

And I kept going.

I checked my results shortly after the race. It listed me as Finished. My time was 19:41. I was ecstatic. And later on, when full results were ready, I learned that I finished first in my age group. I have never finished first in a 5k before.

Thanks for watching. Leave a comment to let me know you stopped by!

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music:
kson - Bliss (Epic No Copyright Music Future Bass)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyTXB43p0S4

end card music:
Jim Yosef - Checkered
https://soundcloud.com/ninety9live/jim-yosef-checkered