5K Photos and Awards

Some people have commented on my 5K win that the course was short. I don’t want to believe that. It may be true, but I have no idea. I actually talked with the race official at the start. He told me that the “actual” start line was about 10 feet ahead of where we were, but as long as we ran (in his words) “a 5K or MORE,” he would call it official.

Also, for what it’s worth, that time seemed about right for how I’ve been training. Four weeks ago, I had to do a 3 mile tempo run. I mapped out a course and ran it hard in 18:15. This past week, a few days before the 5K, I had another 3 mile tempo run on my schedule. I ran the same course as a few weeks ago, and I ran it in 17:15 - 1 full minute faster. So on the morning of a race, with extra adrenaline and extra excitement, I’m not surprised that I could pull out a 17:27 5K.

So, I’ll have to still consider that an official 5K PR time. So much controversy.

Oh, and about the “400+” people that ran the 5K: well, it was more like “around 300.” The number of “400+” also took into account the people that did the 1 mile walk as well. Here were the official results:

Here are some photos from the Charities Challenge site that Gary (president and founder) snapped during the event:

Gary labeled this one “Overall Winner Steve Stenzel Cheers On Others”


Here you can see Jon, Steph, and me on the left


Steph and my yellow butt

Joel, best friend of the late Joe Plant, contacted me and said he has to get me a prize for winning. I thought it would be something small. But because so many people in the Twin Cities know Joe Plant’s story, there were some nice donations. Joel told me that I won a night in a NICE Minneapolis hotel and a dinner at a NICE restaurant! I couldn’t believe it! So, to be fair, the first person to comment on this post wins a night with me in that nice hotel! Game on!