Being Looked Up To
Today I ran in the annual Jingle Bell Dash (formerly the Jingle Dash). It's a community event that is a 5k course with two loops for people who want to do a 10k. Typically there only a handful of 10k runners and a (relatively) large number of 5k runners. I've done this race every year since 2013 and I've come in first place three out of those five times (I was second in 2015 and 18th in 2013. It sounds more impressive than it is. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of my performance. I broke 40 minutes in the 10k for the first time in this race. However, with the field for the 10k only being about 30 deep, it is not exactly elite competition. This year I went out a little harder than I expected to. This is a tough race for constraining yourself because the course starts downhill and there are a lot of kids that like to go out really fast. But after half a mile there were only two people ahead of me, and a mile after that it was me and one other kid who kept