I run a lot of races. Lots of 5- and 10Ks, a handful of 5- and 10-milers and a couple half marathons per year would be normal for me.

I’m not a particularly fast runner. I usually place somewhere in the middle of the pack unless the field is really fast. Then I may wind up closer to the back. Occasionally I can place in my age group in smaller races, but I’m usually just out there competing with myself.

Runners like to call their best times their “personal records,” or PRs. It feels great to beat your best time!

On record, though, my 5K PR has been 27:19 since May 2005. But that course was too short. Most of the runners knew it right away, because the times were too fast. My Garmin confirmed it. A 5K is supposed to be 3.1 miles. I clocked this one at 3.01.

My next best race time, from February 2006, is 27:58. The distance checked out for this one.

I believe these are my only “official” sub-28-minute 5K times. I’ve surely had faster training runs (and actually, I ran a 27:40 on the treadmill last night), but I don’t really count those.

I ran a local 5K on Sunday, and started out with a great pace. I hit the first mile under 9 minutes. I kept it up for the second, and was feeling great.

I was tipped off that there could be a problem on the way back. There was also a one-mile fun run using the same course, with a half-mile turnaround. So when I hit that mark, I knew there was a half mile to the finish line. And the numbers weren’t right.

Maybe we were doing a loop somewhere near the end that the one-mile runners were not?

Nope. The course was off. I did see something on the clock at the finish line that I’ve never seen before: 25:55.

I don’t know how fast my third mile was, seeing how we never made it that far. My Garmin clocked 2.92. The iPod was a bit more generous with 2.97. Still really short.

So my new fake 5K PR is a time that I’ll probably never actually be able to run.

If the course was long enough and I kept that pace, I could have done something in the 27:30 range. If I picked it up, maybe I could have achieved my fake 2005 PR time.

I think all of my PRs are from my earlier running years, 2005-early 2006. Due to some foot and knee problems, I got custom orthotic inserts made in the summer of 2006. I feel like I’ve been slower ever since.

While I am a little disappointed that I can’t count Sunday’s 5K as my new PR, I am still thrilled to have had such a good run. It’s great to know I’ve picked my speed back up.

Maybe I can start setting some new PRs!