Sun 3/28 - AM 70 minutes incl. 5 miles in 27 minutes

5 mile race around Fresh Pond in just under 27:00. Nice course, mostly flat with the last mile trending a bit up. Back into the groove of smooth, relaxed and tired efforts. I knew going in that I was too wiped out from the cumulative effect of the past week or two to expect anything fantastic, so I kept it restrained from the gun. First two miles around 5:20, next two 5:26 each, then a 5:24 slightly uphill mile to close. Felt very much under control early but it's not like I ended up leaving a lot of time out there. Ended up being a rabbit for the first two miles, at which point we turned into the wind and I'd had enough of providing a draft. With time/pace not really a consideration I forced the guy to take the lead thinking I could dismantle him in the last 800. That lasted about 400m and I ended up leading again the rest of the way. Still not even close to being fit, even taking into account how tired I was this week. I did get not one but two shiny new dust collectors for my effort though, why anyone would think a grown adult would actually want a trophy over some merch or $ is beyond me. I assumed that a race put on by the evil empire of running stores would be giving gift certs as prizes, I should have known better. Perhaps explains the weakness of the field for a race with such a nice course. Still I may end up doing it again next year anyway.