I wanted support the local race this morning and I needed to get in a long run for my Boston training, so I decided to combine them. After getting up and having a yummy peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat, I grabbed a Gu, and headed out the door to the race. I wasn't exactly sure how far it was to the race. It ended up being 5.1 miles, about a mile farther than I was thinking. I averaged 7:34 on the 5.1 miles, too fast and far for a race warm up. I had about 10 minutes to down my Gu, drink some water, and get my race number pinned on. I was running the 5K. Doone, my super sexy and now speedy wife, was doing the 10K and Chase and Cade, my 10 and 5 year old boys were doing the 1 mile run. The 10Kers took off first, then the 5Kers, followed by the milers. There wasn't much of a field, couldn't have been more the 50 people total for all the races and none of the other local fast guys were racing. I took off and right from the start could tell my legs were a bit heavy from the run to the race. I tried to keep the first 2 miles comfortable. Mile 1- 5:56 and mile 2- 6:04. I was right were I wanted to be time-wise, but now I could tell I wasn't going to be able to speed up and finish strong like I wanted to, and with no one else close to me to help push me, I just let myself keep the pace strong but comfortable and ended up doing mile 3 in 6:18. I did miss one turn and have to stop and go back a bit. That was annoying and sealed the fact that I wasn't going to push into "puke pace". I averaged 5:43 on the last 0.1 to finish in a slightly disappointing time of 18:52. I took first place by about 6 minutes and did set a PR, but I know I can run much faster then that. I guess I shouldn't run to races anymore. I stayed around and cheered Doone into a great finish time of 52:13, a new PR and 4th place woman. Cade and Chase missed the mile turn around point and ended up running close to two miles. They got mad and refused to cross the finish line. :-) After Doone caught her breath I took off to finish my long run. I put Cade in charge of receiving my award. It was a cool little plaque. I did 7.3 miles more on the way back to my house averaging 7:41. Total run 15.5 miles, 1 PR, and 1 1st place finish. | 