Recently I ran, for the second time, the Racing Hearts 5k @ Stanford University. This year I was not nearly as well prepared as I’d hoped to be. My goal was to be rested after my early December marathon and pick training back up in time to continue with the gains from all the long distance training. That did not happen: I’ve had five straight months of disappointing distance.

However, as this race supports inherited heart disease research at Stanford, I had to run it. And I’m glad I did. I love the vibe of this race. Also, this year, they offered an option to get a special red tech shirt if you’re either a survivor or friend/family of a survivor. In my case, I encouraged the people I was with to do so.

The race itself went ok. I knew I wasn’t in the same condition I had been the previous year so I’d set my expectations lower.

My pacing this year was actually better: I did not start out too greedy like last year, and therefore did not slow down throughout the race.

I was generally pretty happy with my result. I had a goal pace in mind, and I was only five seconds per mile off of it.

After the post race festivities, about to head to my car, I decided to check the official results. To my pleasant surprise, I ended up winning my age group and walked away with a gift certificate for my local run shop.