Never stop running 5k race:23:00

Today I raced a 5k called " Never stop running" in Valencia. I have not raced since December 30th 2017, and my last 5k was November 2017, where I did 23:25, but the course was very great and in the second half it was pretty much downhill, I was really surprised in that one. I have been training consistently and doing workouts and a longer run each week, so I was in great shape and my confidence was high. I honestly thought that I could pull a 22:30 and even sub 22mins, but you never know until you compete. I always race without a watch, so I race by effort and its good, because if in the race you are going slower than expected it can ruin your race mentally, its a personal thing for sure, and for me its more fun and you can focus only on feel and competition. I warmed up around 2.5k to the race, from my house to the race, I met my brother 1k into my cooldown and We did the rest to the race start line. I incorporated 5 x 50m strides in my warm up like I do before my workouts, but this time they were slower than normal, since I did not want to go out like an idiot and in the last 2k bring nothing to the finish line. We lined up around 8:30 a.m. and the race started at 9:00 a.m., when you are a slow runner you have to line back and you have to get there early if you want to get as ahead as possible. Luckily, We did not have problems because elites went out 3:30 before us and We started 4 secs back when they horn the start of "our" race, so it was not that bad. I went out at a controlled pace and decided to keep that way till I felt warmed up enough to start pushing. My brother started ahead of me, around 5 secs faster in the first km, then He built a bigger gap till the 2k, after that I was just trying to pass people and concentrate on effort, then I have caught him, just before the 3k mark, He was running in the other side of the road and I shouted "Come with me", but I knew that He was slowing down and I was speeding up, or so I thought since I was passing people and my stride felt faster. I started to push and push, looking down on the road to not get distracted by others runners and only concentrate on my effort. In the last km however, I thought of my intervals and just said to myself, 1 more 1k repeat to go, and I acted like if was in the last interval of 1k. In the last 500m I started to give everything I had and my breathing was very labored. In the last 300-400s I thought in my friend Virkin who passed away last year and that gave me strength, I was giving a hard effort, but was saving the last bit for the final 150, just after our last turn. When I could see the finish line I just started to accelerate , but could not sprint all out since there were a lot of people around, but I finished pretty fast. When I finished, the clock read 26:30, they say that the elites started 4 mins earlier, and the time reflected elites times, so I thought that I had run 22:30, I was very happy. When I finished I waited for my brother who surprisingly finished 11 seconds back, He finished fairly hard. We both thought that We ran 22:xx. After We drank water and talked for a bit, We started the cool down jog to home. He suggested to walk home, I said to him, this is a "workout" and in every workout We do a cool down jog, not walk. So We ran easy to home and I felt a bit sore at the beginning, but then felt pretty good. I felt very good in the cool down and strong for 2.5k cooldown. I found that this race passed by very quickly. I ran around 10k total for the day and as I type this I feel very good and not sore at all, lets see tomorrow! When I was at home, a text message came with my official and chip time, it was 23:00 chip time and 23:04 official time, I was pissed off and even dissapointed, I know that I am in shape for 22:30 or less, but today was not the day. However, I ran my best 5k time in 5.5 years, which is a positive. I should be able to improve on the next one since I had a lot of time without racing, so I was a bit unacostumed to the  Racing pain cave. Good effort and good race, kudos to my brother who ran pretty good. Weather was pretty good, around 8 degrees but I wore my Hillrunner Singlet and racing shorts, felt pretty good out the