With my goal 5K in a few short weeks, I was just going on feel today. I didn't pay too much attention to my pace - I just let my body do its thing. As I typically do, I went off way too fast (like 2:00/mile faster than I should for the first .25 mile) but got into my groove shortly after. I nailed my first mile, but then I screwed up. I didn't have anyone directly in front of me (which I am not used to) so I missed seeing a little red taped arrow on the ground and missed a turn just past the first mile marker. I ended up across the parking lot instead of following the sidewalk. Yes, they said "just follow the sidewalk" but for some reason I just kept going off the sidewalk and by the time I turned around and went back to the sidewalk, I had tacked on .08 mile extra. Oops! Luckily I didn't realize how much I screwed up until I hit the mile 2 marker and saw the different between the course and the marker.
Despite messing up, I was still running a great pace and race. The course is extremely flat and it was actually too flat for me - I was actually looking for a hill to give my hips a change. I am in the minority though with running better on hills than flat, so this was a great course for most runners to run a great time.
I ended up in 3rd place in my age group (which was 10 year age groups at that). Regardless, to say I am crazy proud of myself is an understatement. Now it is time to go catch my goal time with OFFICIAL race results.