Run, Walk and Roll 5k race report

My first 5k of the year was this past Saturday.   I'm so used to marathon start times that I was pleasantly surprised when this one started at 9:15AM.  Run, Walk and Roll was a very small race along the Tempe Town Lake waterfront.  I loved the lack of crowds at this event.  I loved how I could race to the porta-potties 10 minutes from my start time and still make it back to the starting line on time.  And I loved my place in my division, but more on that later...

This year, I plan to focus on speed.   I set my Garmin pace partner to a 10:30 pace thinking that I had been running 11:00 minute miles in training, so a 10:30 would be an appropriate race goal.   Keep in mind, I had only started running again 2 weeks ago.

As the air horn blared, I kept up with the pack of runners.  At about the half-mile mark I started passing people who were moving a little slower than me.  When I reached the mile marker, I looked down at my Garmin.  Staring back at me, my virtual partner told me that I was 1 minute ahead of pace.  1 minute?  I just ran that mile in 9:30?  Yes!

Amazingly, I was able to keep close to that pace throughout the rest of the race and cross the finish line at 30:59.  Not bad for my first race of the new year.  I checked my results when I got home and saw this:

The number on the far right is my division place.  A single digit number for my division place!  Seeing these results, my next goal formed in my mind.  I'm going to place in my division at a race this year.  If I can get seventh place with only two weeks of training, imagine what I can do if I trained.  My strategy for placing in the top three of my division is as follows:

1. Run more small races.  My division for this race only had 25 people in it.  That helped a lot.
2. Find races that give awards based on five year age groups.  This means I'm looking to place in Female 30-34.
3. Finally, (and most importantly as well as most difficult), I need to get my time below 28 minutes.  I think this is doable, although it is going to require a lot of work.

Anything else I should consider for this goal?  What tips and tricks do you know for improving 5k times?   Please fill me in!