Grant this year

Tuesday evening saw the running of this years Grant Thornton 5k. Hard to believe its a full year since the last one. Again we had a team from work and again the weather was fantastic.
We met in town and donned the company shirts, blue and yellow after our aircraft colours and our well know brand!
I warmed up at the front, and joined the crowd at the start line. I was comfortable with my place a few rows back, last year I was around the 100 mark. I set the garmin for 5.45 pace. At the off the pace was good, and I finished the first mile 5 seconds fast at 5.40. I felt very comfortable and was able to give a shout out to team mates as we passed on the out and back section.
The second mile went well, and I forced myself to hold back fearing a late blow up. On the third mile a quick glance at the watch showed I was 3 seconds behind. The pace was beginning to hurt. I had done an easy 6 miles the day before, and I was regretting it now. Trying to keep the milage up for the week and targeting a fast 5k is not really going to work out, for me anyway.
Coming around the last bend with the finish in sight I put on a burst and surprised myself with how well it went. Nevertheless, I just managed to squeeze in at 17.58. While I can't really be disappointed given the level of training I am putting in ( or not as the case may be) I had hoped to be able to keep the pace for a 17.45, but obviously it was too much of an ask.
All of crew did very well, even though there were very few seasoned runners among them. The enthusiasm was infectious from those who had completed their first race, and it reminded me of when I was new to the sport and I found the same high for the first time.
Last week I went out for my assigned tempo run. It was 9 miles at 5 seconds faster than marathon pace. Given that I am ( or was ) toying with trying for a sub 3, I went out at 6.45 pace. 1 mile warmup at 7.30 and off I went. At mile 5 I wanted to give up, but I kept going and I was glad I did. I finished on time. 1 mile cool down and when I got to the door of the house I was shattered! I really dropped the head after that one, and now have real doubts about it. I think even though in general all my times are slightly better than last year, I might just settle for an attempt on a PB of somewhere around the 3.05 mark. The next few weeks will be crucial, and with a weeks holidays scheduled towards the end of the month, it's looking like a defer to next year!