Watchung Municipal Alliance 5-K

If you're looking for a low-key, hometown-type of race, the Watchung Hills Municipal Alliance 5-K in Watchung is a good one.
The field is usually less than 100, with a few talented outside runners mixed with locals looking to support a good cause: Drug Education programs in the Warren, Watchung, Long Hill Twp., and Green Brook school districts.
I was fortunate enough to win it one year, and this year took third in a time of 20:29.
I hadn't run a race since July, but have been training hard, on my own, and with the Adult Running Group at our club. I felt I took off fairly hard at the start, and really didn't slow down the whole way, passing a couple of people in the front pack and settling into third place by the halfway mark.
In fact, one runner came up next to me on the long downhill down Sunlit Drive, we stayed together for a few paces, and I was able to regain my position. My legs felt fine, I mentally was into it, and my stomach didn't bother me at all, which are usually the three determining factors.
However, my breathing was heavy almost from the start - almost as if my lungs were in sprint mode, while my legs were in distance!
Because I was working so hard, I felt my time had to be in the mid 19-minute range. There were no splits along the way (as I said, this is a small, local race), and I was a bit disappointed when I rounded the last curve at Watchung Lake and saw the clock in the 20's.
Still, I can't complain (I am 53 now, too!), and hopefully I'll get one more 5-K in this Fall before the weather starts getting too cold.
As a coach I felt proud, because one of the runners in our group ran well in his comeback to racing after nearly a decade off.
Every race is a learning experience, good and bad, and I can't wait to get back out there again!