2010 Red Rooster Ramble 5 Miler, Week 18

Warren, RI
July 22, 2010
33:58
6:48 pace
3rd Place

I haven't placed this high in a race since High School.  To be fair, there was a field of 50 or so, the race was held in the middle of a 2 week heat wave, and the following night was a big race attraction in Southern RI.  Still, it's in the books as a bronze.

I've run this course before, and know exactly where the mile markers are, but the fun part comes in the sprint to the finish.  The last mile is along the East Bay Bike Path, with a few curves along the way.  You can't see the finish until it's 100 m away, and the person who finished 1 second ahead of me know that better than I did, as she out-paced me to the finish.

I took a few seconds off my pace from the last 5 miler, and I felt pretty good after the race.  Still not at the pace I'd like to see, but I'm making progress.  The last two weeks were really tough to train, with temps over 90 and high humidity, and my runs haven't been pretty.  The best part of this race came with the announcement at the start, that this was the Christmas in July Edition.  At the 1 mile mark, there was a group of elves handing out presents.  If you took one, you had to carry it the rest of the way, and you couldn't open it before the finish.

Being the serious runner that I am not, and running in second place at the first mile, I imagined the treats hidden inside the carefully wrapped boxes.  I drifted toward the smallest elf I could find, who seemed to be holding a shoebox up without much effort, and ran off with my loot.  The box felt empty, but you still tend to notice it when you're trying to race another 4 miles.  In the end, I won a free entry to another race in the series.  Worth the effort, and easier to carry than a sack of potatoes.

I'll be back for another one.

30th Anniversary Little Compton 4.8 Mile Road Race

July 10, 2010
Little Compton, RI
4.8 miles
32:15
6:44 Pace
38th/539 Place

This was a PR for me at this distance.  Also, my first 4.8 mile road race.

Little Compton is a small, rural town and this race provided a great venue to see the landscape.  From the Town Center and school, through the rolling hills, by farms and a gas station which sells only 87 octane, the route provided great scenery to a good-sized crowd.

I started at the front of the pack, as the first 100 yards narrowed from two lanes to one, and tried to keep a conservative pace.  I'm still not feeling very fast at any distance, and knowing this was a good deal longer than the 5k's I've been running, I wanted to have some energy for the last mile.  I'm not sure the mile markers were accurate, since my times were all over the place, but I did pick it up after the 4 mile mark, and passed a few groups of people.  I've been running a few 1200m loops at track workouts, and put that pace in my mind for the last 0.8 miles.

Here's a lesson I learned from my high school track coach:  finish a race 10 yards after the finish line.  I gained my final spot within the last few yards of the race, because of an overhead banner that appeared to be the finish line.  Another runner had just caught me and stopped under the banner, but I kept racing to the clock ahead of me.  That kept me one spot ahead of him.

Overall, I'm happy with the result.  The day was very hot and humid, and I'm just not in the shape I was in two or three years ago.  I also spent the last two weeks on vacation with not so much running, and a few too many calories.  I'll have a few more short, fast races this summer and keep working on my time.

Next up, the Blessing of the Fleet, in Narragansett.  10 miles of fun.