Luckily, I didn't pay attention and when I make a commitment, I follow though.
The race format is teams of 5 runners in turn run one 5 km each. None of the people in my company run on a daily basis so there was no real pressure to perform. The sheer amount of people attending (about 250,000 over 5 days!), the many turns, and the soft ground also made me decide not to go all out.
Being the 4th runner there was quite some time before it was my turn. When the second runner was back at our tent I started moving toward the transfer-area and looked for the guy that was supposed to give me the baton.
When I received the baton I rushed out of the transfer-area and set a manageable pace. From the very beginning there were a massive number of people on the track and you could tell that most of them don't run races regularly. This made me realize there are quite few unwritten rules in racing, like sticking to the right as much as possible so faster runners can pass unhindered.
The race quickly became a game of zigzagging between people, which in a weird way was both annoying and fun at times.
I knew that our company's tent was shortly after the 4 km mark. So, to make sure that my colleagues noticed me as I ran past, I yelled "MINUUUUUUUUUBAAAAA"! Which, besides getting the attention of my colleagues, also scared the crap out of some of the slowpokes in front of me and opened a large gap I could use to rush past.
As I ran into the transfer zone and frantically started looking for our last runner. When I finally spotted him after a few confusing seconds, and passed to baton, I jogged back to our tent to grab some food.
When I reached the tent my colleagues told me that I had completed my round in 20:10, which wasn't bad considering the lousy conditions and the fact that my fastest official 5k is only 18 seconds faster.
