Turtle vs Snail 10K

This morning Mike and I joined several other SWAT members in Milton for the 25th running of the Milton Optimist Club's Independence Day 10K Fun Run. It was threatening to drizzle on us but managed to clear up enough that it stopped before we had to spend much time outside.
We started near the back of the pack, which is where I belonged for sure. I got about 100 yds from the start and my shoe was untied already - awesome. I was then DFL once I got tied back up, being followed by the ambulance bringing up the rear. I quickly passed 2 older ladies in front of me who were chatting it up. Then I passed a guy wearing knee socks and 2 knee braces that was roughly 70 hobbling along. Before long I had passed another pair of joggers, one of whom I work with (secretly very fun). I kept at it and slowly inched up on people as they began to run out of gas.
About the end of mile 2, the first runner started coming back at me. The first guy was this guy that we see all the time running by our house into the country. He is tall, wiry, Jamaican looking young guy with a flowing loose Afro that I nicknamed The Gazelle last summer. He makes running look so effortless it's sick. He had to be running at least 5 minute miles and he looked like he was exerting no effort at all, just out for a casual jog. Guys like that are my hero - they just make it look so easy.
The halfway turnaround seems to be where I get to start taking people at the 10Ks. I get ahead of the people who start to poop out after the first mile, then I just wait for the the 5K mark to start passing people again. I look ahead at people that I see starting to do the run/walk thing and I know that pretty soon if I keep my steady pace, I am going to get ahead of them. Once I have them in my sight line I name them. Well really I number them. Today I met numbers 1-15, which coincides with the number of people I knew I beat to the finish line.
10K is a long time to be alone reflecting on your thoughts, and I gave myself the giggles at one point thinking about how this "race" of the slow folks must look. I got a visual of the Rascal scooter run down from Seinfeld. I finally decided it must look like a race between a turtle and a snail. As the snail oozes along inch by inch, the turtle moves slowly, speeding up and then stopping to catch its breath from the effort.
As I neared the finish, I saw "Fifteen" ahead of me. She was just out of reach, which pissed me off because she was one of those run/walkers too. It really sucks when you are giving all your effort and you can't catch the WALKER for goodness sake! She was a high school age girl and when I did get ahead of her a couple times while she walked, she let me get 5 or 10 yards ahead of her then she would run a while til she was ahead. We kept at that a while. Then I turned a corner and saw the SWAT folks milling around way up ahead on the approach to the finish line. I thought to myself - SCREW that I am not letting the walker girl beat me to the finish in front of all these fast folks I know. I took off in front of the girl as fast as I could go and managed to pass her and stay ahead. As I passed the SWAT folks, they cheered and clapped, and Tawnya did a little dance in the road that made me laugh all the way in. They are just a fun group.
They had plans to ride bikes to Lake Ripley then do an open water swim and bike back. Mike's knee was bothering him and I didn't think it was particularly wise to marinate his open wound in lake water so we deferred that part of the day.
I don't think there are any official results posted anywhere, it wasn't chip timed or anything like that. I had a time of 1:07:40, if any really cares. You can view my run here.
Hope y'all have a safe and happy 4th!