BostonBound59

This will unfortunately be a short entry as I’m buried in work and have five superior court hearings this week. On Sunday we traveled 1 ½ hours south to Lincoln, Rhode Island for the 10th Annual Rhody 5k. This race is one of the races on this year’s USATF New England Grand Prix race circuit. As usual we were late (my fault) and arrived just 20 minutes before the start but fortunately the women’s start was 30 minutes later than the mens so Cathy was able to grab my number and timing chip as I headed straight for the starting line barefoot with shoes and socks in hand (great race prep). We were joined in Rhode Island by 30 fellow Gate City Striders. Just kidding about the bunny suit, but did set a new PR.

The course reminded me a lot of running at Pease Air Force Base, very flat and circular ending on the Lincoln Greyhound Dog Track (no moving rabbit to chase unfortunately). I had not run a 5k since Thanksgiving and had done no speed work whatsoever since early March so I had no idea how I would run. My goal was to break 20 minutes. I have been trying to get ready for Mt. Washington on June 20 so had done two fairly hard hilly runs totaling close to 20 miles on Friday evening in Mont Vernon/New Boston and on Mack Hill in Amherst on Saturday morning. When the gun went off I felt better than expected so tried to keep pace with fellow Striders Jim Hansen and Steve Wolfe. Jim, Steve and I ran as a group for the first mile. I passed the first mile in 6:07 and was concerned I had gone out too fast. We then passed mile two in 6:03. This was Steve’s first race back after a hip injury that has severely limited his training over the last month so he was holding back as I'm not in his league and normally I can’t even see him after the first mile. The conditions were the warmest so far this year and took a toll on me as we closed in on mile three as Steve and I ran fairly close together but then he put the hammer down and made a strong move at about the 2.6 mile mark that I couldn't match. I ran the last mile in 5:55 and my overall time of 18:48 was a PR (post high school/college) by almost one minute.

Cathy ran 19:10 which was a strong finish and also a PR for her although at least for a day or so I can give up my title as the slowest runner in our house (although Anthony returns home tomorrow from a week of running in Mammoth Lakes California to put us all in our place--he ran a 14:39 this winter indoors at the Heps at Harvard). I can’t even remember the last time I finished in front of Cathy. Other strong Strider performances were Ethan Crain (15:35), Joe Rogers (17:07) Mike Wade (18:15) and Jim Hansen (19:31) on the men’s side and on the women’s side Karen Long (19:52), Karen Pattalena (20:05) and Tammy Gaffey (20:29) . I apologize for not listing all 30 Striders as well as team results which I would do tonight if I had time.