Eagan 5k Your Way Race Report

It was the most fun-filled, action-packed Saturday in the twin cities for the Leckbands this Saturday, and that's saying something. After running the TC 1 Mile on Thursday, hanging out with the Minnesota Running Wild crew at Brit's that night, we finally spent a Friday evening at home in Eagan (the first Friday at home in over a month).

Photo op before the race.

We ate some delicious salmon and bow-tie pasta (recipe courtesy of my sister-in-law) and hit the hay early to get some rest for the Eagan 5k Your Way on Saturday morning. Saturday morning I woke up at 5 AM (without an alarm) with a sore throat and a little congested. Things didn't look great for the race, but after I was up for a while the congestion pretty much left and my throat felt better.

After putsin' around for a couple hours, Laura and I rode our bikes over to Central Park for the 5k. It was already over 70 degrees, but the breeze was making the humidity and temperature bearable--especially for a 5k.

We ran into our friends Nate and Juli Johnson. Juli is the Eagan Parks and Rec director and she and Nate had already gotten our race bags out for us. Last year Nate won the 5k, but this year he wasn't running because of his high school track and field. Juli told me she expected me to win the race, so the pressure was really on.

During my warmup I could feel that my legs were still sore from the mile on Thursday (and probably the marathon last Saturday), but I thought I might still be able to pull off a respectable 5k. At the start of the race I kissed Laura for good luck and Juli blew the air horn to get us going.

A couple of boys sprinted off into the lead. Before the race, one of them had asked Juli what to do if he passed the lead vehicle. Juli said, "I don't think that will happen." Anyway, I passed the first little guy in about 50m. He yelled to his friend, "look out!" but it was too late, I passed the next little guy too.

Right after the first mile the course turned to the left and I peeked back to see how close the next guy was. He looked like he was about 20-30 seconds behind me. I saw him again at the next turn but after that I was all by my lonesome.

The lead gator did a nice job of moving the runners over to my left when we met back up with the rest of the runners with about a 2/3 of a mile left. I was running against the wind, but I also had a nice downhill grade. The runners on my left gave me some encouraging words and claps and I tried to pick it up as best I could.

I did end up winning so I was glad I didn't disappoint Juli. I got a nice medal, a gift card, a bag, and a water bottle. I also got to get interviewed by Paul, Laura's grade school friend, for the city of Eagan. My final time was 17:30, tying Nate Johnson's previous course record.

Look! I'm a celebrity.

Laura also ran the race and recorded a pretty good time after running a marathon on Saturday. I think she was the fourth or fifth female overall.

pure speed

It was a fun run--the volunteers were friendly and did a great job controlling traffic. The post race food was solid--bagels, apples, and bananas. Plus there was a couple places for a free post-race massage.

The rest of our Saturday was also awesome. A long (for us) bike ride, swimming (brrrr) at Lake Nokomis, dinner at Sea Salt, and watching a movie at home. Good times.

25 mile bike ride