Hello all! Today (05/05/2001) I ran my very first 5k race!! It was so much fun! Thanks Gail! The entire organisation of the race was wonderful! I ran the Roman Rumble (Rome, GA) at 8:30 this morning. I had no clue how to pace myself for the 3.1 miles and my mile splits were awful!! I was trying to follow the logic to run the first mile slow the 2nd a bit harder and 3rd all out. Needless to say, I did something totally different. I ran my first too quickly, the second was much slower and the third was moderately fast. I finished in 30:44 (my unofficial PR is 27:XX but that was on a treadmill). I did manage to place 3rd in my age group. I am treating this as a benchmark race; I will see how things improve after a few months of speed-work. It was a wonderful experience and I learnt so much about running a shorter race. Gail Johnson and the Rome Runner's Club (the organisers) did such a nice job with everything. Wow. I might do it again next year!! -- Richie BAKSHI