Thanks to a running club friend for this great picture of me running.

The title of this post was just going to be plain old “Natick 5K” but it turned into an exciting new experience for me!

The 5Ks I end up signing up for are usually so crowded with good runners at all age ranges that even my best efforts don’t come close to cracking any kind of a leaderboard.

Even my best-ever 5K, which came on the heels of my first marathon, when I was in incredible running shape - 24:46 - was only good enough for 12th in my age group (M 40-49) and 87th overall (in a field of 477).

Saturday’s 5K was a different story.

The field was just 113. There were just 12 men in my age group.

I ran a 27:42, which for those of you scoring at home, was a step back from the Boston 5K and the Somerville 5K I ran in April and March before that.

But, in a field that size, it was good enough for 16th overall and 2nd in my age group.

I mean, it’s not like I bested the world here.

But I’ll definitely take it as a win.

I’m not a competitive runner - I’m not out there chasing anyone down. (But I do like knowing my conditioning is good enough on hills or as others start struggling that I can go farther faster.)

When I run any race - including a 5K, which is a short enough distance for me that I can turn on the gas for a little bit more than other distances - it’s mostly me against me, not so much me against anyone else.

And as I said, it wasn’t like this was my best effort ever. It was a lot hotter Saturday morning than it’s been, so that factored into my performance. I don’t do well when the temperature is 70ish and the sun is beating down.

But I had a pretty good pace - 8:43ish for all three miles - and I thought I ran a pretty good 5K, all things considered.

(And I took consolation in the fact that neither of my two previous 5Ks this year would have gotten me first in my age group. The 24-minute one would have…but we’re still a ways off from that ever happening again.)

About the only disappointment was that the website said the top 2 in each age group would get a prize - but they only gave the top finisher in each age group something. I got my hopes up that I was going to get my first award for a race.

That’s OK, though.

This race didn’t have a goal - it was just another chance to run a 5K on another spring morning. I guess what I was thinking was I didn’t want to go out too fast so that my times dipped by the end. I accomplished that goal by remaining consistent - I’m not sure if I could have done any of my miles at a faster clip.

So it was a successful morning.

The fact that I finished where I did was a nice bonus.