This Saturday morning I decided to run a 10k in Cary. Cary is a sprawling suburb between Raleigh and Chapel Hill, mostly. The wording in the entry blank made it seem that some sort of prize, probably stuff related and not monetary would be available. All I ask is a chance to not lose money on a race, so I decided to give 'er a go. I seriously despise the 10k distance. I mean my PR is pedestrian compared to my 5k and 1/2 Marathon PRs. But I decided to show up anyway, since every race around here is a 5k, and those are pretty much useless. There was a large crowd, and the race seemed legit. Starting off, it was a pack of 3, two guys from Durham/Chapel Hill and me right behind them. The pace seemed quick, but not difficult, I was anxious to see what we'd come through the mile at. 4:49 as we hit it, and it felt like a walk in the park. The other guys seemed like they didn't mind pushing, so I just sat behind and let them. We cruised along a little slower from 2-3 miles when some hills were showing up. at 3 miles one of the guys who was laboring, dropped off hard. From there it was me and one other guy. I tried to push a little, but was getting tired. Luckily he had had enough and started falling back. I held on to the pace the last two miles or so up some good hills and finished about 40 seconds in front in 31:16. The other two guys are apparently 2:20 and 2:26 guys and are running Boston too. Nice dudes. It's a confidence boost to beat a couple serious runners, even though if the race was 20 miles longer, I'm not sure if I'd recommend betting on me. Anyway, I'm heading up to Roanoke Rapids for half this Saturday, also cryptically worded as to whether or not I'll win anything.