World Golf Village 5K

It was a hot June day as usual at the World Gold Village, the site of a 5K Dad and I were going to participate in. It was a "landmark race" for my Dad, but not so much for me since the biggest race of the season, Run for the Pies, is next week. I was sporting my Honey Stinger jersey while my Dad was wearing his Stinger cap. The weather was brutally hot, but the racing conditions were decent nonetheless because the humidity wasn't too bad. My goal for today was merely beating my time from last week, 22:22, while saving some fuel in the tank for next week. The field was moderately sized with about 500 participants. I had the chance for an age group award while Dad would have to push hard to get top 3. The race started in an orderly fashion and I took off in my regular 6:30 first mile. Dad's plan for the race was to try to stick with me for the first mile. My Dad did well with the plan (hence the word "try") but was about 15 yards behind me. Once we approached the water stop at mile 1.4 he passed me, his usual gasping self as I asked "Are you OK?" He grunted with a "yes" and shook me off. Mile 2 was more of a struggle for me as I clocked in at a slow 14:06. We were headed on the back leg of the course for mile 3, which finished with a loop around village lake. I held off some other runners and finished in 22:20, my 3rd fastest time and beating my time from Memorial Day. I accepted defeat from my Dad who finished in 21:40, his 2nd fastest time. But he couldn't be cut a break as he finished in 6th place in his age group while finishing in the top 10% of the field yet again. I was happy when I learned that I placed 1st place in my division. More people came up today and introduced themselves to me and told me how I am a good runner, how they see me in each race, etc. We stuck around afterwards for the awards and the raffle (we didn't win anything in the raffle, as usual). In other news, I still am in 2nd place in the Jacksonville Grand Prix standings in the 11-13 age group with 305 points. Follow up next week as I take on Run for the Pies, the most prestigious race in Jacksonville! So long and keep running!