What a great night for a great event. I ended up asking a colleague at John Hancock if they had any interest in becoming a sponsor for the meet, and they enthusiastically said yes and set up a booth on race day. I ended up showing up early at ~3:30 to help man the booth, and we were in a good spot to see some racing action as well. While we discussed John Hancock's new Vitality program with mostly young volunteers who liked the hats, I was happy that we were there and really happy that JH was able to support the event.
I grew a little bit nervous about my upcoming race since I was standing in the sun since I arrived, but it's not like I'm in mile shape anyways and I'm always happy to talk running for 2+ hours. I was able to get in a short warm up, but my legs were certainly a bit stiff from standing.
On the start, I lined up next to Neil and we waited for ~10 minutes for the start (there was an issue with hip numbers). To be honest, this race went by quickly and was really uneventful. After the first 200, I passed one guy on the turn and settled in. From that point on I did a poor job of turning the screws - I simply didn't have the pop or the ability to really feel smooth and fast (I think I have that sometimes). At least I had good form though! I can't say for sure what my splits were, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say my 2nd and 3rd laps were slow. Final time was 4:54.53. I'll take it. Not like I have a choice.
Corrib Pub 5k
Most of my recent blog posts have seemed to follow the general theme of feeling like I have dead legs and I'm disappointed with all of my recent results. While my time on this day doesn't make me very happy, I was pleased with the overall result.
When the gun went off, my plan was to mix it up and race hard. I went out off the line and was right up front from the go. After a first mile in 5:10, I was excited about how I felt and where I was positioned. Chris Wallace was a couple seconds up on me, and there were a few other runners in between us, but they weren't Pub Series runners so I wasn't focused on them too much. Shortly after passing that first mile marker, Chris Klucznik passed me and I remained focused on trying not to lose contact with that group.
Mile two was sort of a "hold the effort" type of a mile. Klucznik and Wallace were clear ahead, and I had the 3rd place runner in my sights with some other runners keeping me in the cross-hairs. I clicked off a 5:30 mile and figured a PR wasn't in the books, but on a warm day and a hilly course I wasn't thinking a PR was that realistic (though a 5:10 first mile did have me curious about how I'd finish).
At the start of the 3rd mile, I was able to catch and pass the runner who had been in 3rd place. There are some rollers in this section and I was focused on tightening the screws on the ups and bounding on the downs. Early on in the third mile I heard a spectator say, "oh boy, got a real race right here!" That wasn't exactly what I wanted to here. I was hurting pretty good and was hoping I had passed him with authority, but after that I kept my eyes straight ahead and just kept digging. I took a glance back when we took a turn and I noticed that I would be able to comfortably finish in 3rd place. I wish I had continued to hammer though, as I'm curious how much time I could've taken back if I took advantage of the final downhill. In any case, this is a pretty big race, and I was pumped to take 3rd place. With Lee having just ran the Martha's Vineyard Marathon and TJ having the flu (or something), I was able to make up some ground in the standings as well.
Some good press and also a great photo of Eli!
Pub Series Standings
Results
Ocean to Bay 5 Miler
The third and final race was the Ocean to Bay 5 Miler in Truro. At the start I saw a couple of guys that I was keeping an eye on, but was planning to do my best to go out hard and see who would stick with a quick opening mile.
At the first mile, I was happy to see my split of 5:18. I felt pretty good too! There was still at least one guy on my shoulder though, and so I maintained effort, though I started to notice that we had a headwind to deal with. After a mild slowdown at an intersection, I was in a good rhythm. At the first turnaround, we go up a short steep hill and do a sharp u-turn. I could see that I had put some distance between myself and those behind me and so I coasted a bit in the third mile. After going from a 5:31 second mile to a 5:52 third mile I decided I was easing up too much and I didn't want to look back so I worked harder on that fourth mile getting back down to a 5:31 split. As we entered the second turnaround point at Coast Guard beach I slowed quite a bit to avoid eating in the sandy parking lot. I also realized I had some discomfort going on and that a slow-down would be the safest course of action. I was still moving at a decent clip, but decidedly not pushing the pace.After winning this race last year, I was happy to defend the title.
Results
FB Photos
