Frustrating Race Day

Grr!  I think that pretty much sums it up.  Today I ran in the 1st annual Dundalk Pond Skipper 5k.  This was my first local race, and it will probably be my last.  I ran it because a few of the girls from work were running in it also.  The registration forms read that the race would be starting at 9:00am, with packet pickup beginning at 8:00am.  I also checked on Charm City Run's website which stated that the race start was at 8:00am, so I figured I'll get there around 7:50am since I knew it was going to be a smaller race.  As I was getting close I noticed that the police were blocking off all the streets already, and being unfamiliar to the area I wasn't going to drive into the neighborhoods and get lost while trying to get closer.  I parked about a half of a mile away from the start and then had to run to get to the registration table to get my bib and t-shirt.  So after the half mile near sprint to the start I was already a bit winded.  I had about 5 minutes to catch my breath before the gun went off for the start.  I started out way to fast, there was a high school track team there so I started with them.  When I looked down at my Garmin about 2 minutes in I saw that we were running a 5:10/mi pace!  I slowly dropped off their pace and finished mile 1 at 7:05, which I knew was still too fast.  So I slowed it down again.  As we were approaching the turn around I came to where my car was parked, with the lights on, so I ran off the course, turned off the lights in my car, and back into the race!  At the water table they had dixie cups, yes, the 2oz bathroom cups.  I grabbed one, but after the initial slosh, maybe got an ounce of water out of it.  My mile two split was 9:14, which was much closer to the pace I wanted to run, but this time was a bit too slow.  The final full mile was majority up hill, although I don't remember running down any big hills in the initial two miles.  As we neared the finish I looked down at my watch and saw it ticking off 23:30 - 23:31 - 23:32.  I had just over a minute to finish if I were going to break my PR.  My 3rd mile was done in a time of 8:32.  As I took off in a sprint to the finish I took a peak at my watch and saw pass by 24:38, my PR.  Which was very demoralizing, but I kept on running.  Coming along the final straight I passed two other runners, and crossed the line at 25:12.  Still a respectable time for me, but a bit slower then I wanted.  I don't think that my 6 mile run on Thursday, tweaking my ankle a bit on Tuesday, or the extra half mile sprint to the start helped my time today, but it's racing, and we all have our off days.  Time for a nap, snooze on and have a great weekend.