A small town 5K run is the perfect place for your first foot race. My nephew, Andrew (15) and I signed up and took the starting line this morning for the Willows Lamb Derby Run. It was Andrew's first ever race, but he is a naturally great athlete, so I knew he would do well.

I asked him what pace he wanted to run for the 3.1 miles. He gave me a puzzled look. I told him I wanted to try to keep a 7 minute-per-mile pace, and he said "Oh. Okay. Yeah, I think I can do that." We took a jog around the block to warm up.

I pointed out a woman in her 30s, wearing black knickers, that I recognized from running the race the year before, "She is pretty fast, if we can hang with her we will be under 22 minutes." And so our strategy was set. Little did this poor woman know that we had placed a target on her back.

The whistle blew and we were off. Black Knickers set out at a quick pace, and I soon began to wonder if it was too fast for me. Andrew seemed fine, and as our breathing settled in, I found I was okay. We paced along a few lengths behind her for the first two miles, then Andrew slowly pulled by her, while I held back. With about a half mile to go, her pace seemed to slow ever so slightly and I passed her. Another block and felt my shoe loosen. I looked down to see my shoe lace whipping around. Dang! Quickly as I could, I stopped, tied, and set out again, but now Black Knickers was at least 30 yards ahead of me!

Meanwhile, Andrew was just barely holding his lead. By now, I could feel my heart was near it's maximum rate and my breathing was deep. Closing the gap seemed unlikely, but I was able to keep it from widening further. Finally, we turned the corner for the two block home stretch. I picked up the pace and saw the gap slowly close. "Maybe she is hurting. Maybe she can't keep it up!" But no, just as I got close enough to read her shirt, she kicked it in and pulled away again, trying to catch Andrew.

Andrew crossed the line in 4th place, Black Knickers in 5th, and I in 6th, with a time of 20 minutes, 55 seconds, a personal best for me.