 posted May-29-2007 09:16 AM
   
Boston’s Run to Remember 5 Mile Race ReportThis was a goal race for me, I have been working real hard to get my 5K, 5 mile, & 10K times down and have succeeded for the most part. Going into this race I had three main goals: 1 – To set a 5 mile distance PR – old time was 33:39
2 – Place in my age group
3 – Place in the law enforcement division I woke up at about 4:30 showered and got my things together and had my pre-race breakfast of two cookies and cream pop-tarts, a banana, a glass of chocolate milk and a glass of orange juice. I relaxed and read the paper for a while and headed out the door at about 6:00. As I headed to Boston I couldn’t help but notice that the skies were overcast and I actually ran into a very brief shower as I entered Mass., and the temp was in the upper 50’s it just looked like it was going to be a great day for a road race. I got into Boston at about 7:15 and was even able to find a parking space on the side of the road a short walk from the Expo site which saved me $9 in parking fees. I walked over, picked up my packet and shirt (another cotton short sleeved shirt) and headed back to my car to get ready. I pinned my number on my shorts and headed out for a two mile pre-race warm up run. Oh yeah lest I forget I was wearing black Adidas running shorts with white stripes, a black & white “Maine Rowdies” running singlet, Asics 2120 running shoes and sunglasses. And of course I had my trusty Garmin 305 tagging along as well. I did a very comfortable 2 miles in just over seventeen minutes with a few strides thrown in. I headed up to the start line to watch the start of the Half Marathon and watched as the clouds broke up and the sun came out about 5 minutes before the start of the race. You could really feel the difference right off the bat, and I made a mental note to make sure I made the water stops no matter what! The half marathon started without a hitch and the 5 mile race was slated to start 15 minutes later. At just about 8:35 (about 5 minutes late) our race started and we were off on a little 5 mile jaunt through Boston! As we headed up Seaport Boulevard I made a conscious effort not to go out too fast and immediately noticed how dry my mouth was. As we prepared to make the turn onto Surface Artery I noticed the “Elites” and the rest of the lead pack really beginning to create some distance from the rest of us. I felt things were going very well and I had gotten into a pretty good rhythm as we made the turn onto State Street and passed mile 1 in 6:13. As we made our way down Congress Street and up New Chardon Street I had been about 10-15 yards behind a younger male runner when suddenly he just went down for no apparent reason, I think he tripped over his own feet. I felt bad but kept on stride as he was getting up and said he was fine, I never did see him again. I passed the 2 mile marker in 6:29, still pretty good as we covered a few small hills and confronted the wind a little bit. The third mile was really pretty uneventful, I had another young male runner come up behind me on my right and we ended up chatting a little bit about how warm it was and how we could use a down hill etc. I looked at him to gauge his age group and remarked that I wouldn’t have to worry about him because he was just a kid and he said he was “older than he looked” so I asked him how old he was and he said he was 41. I said yeah I was right, you are just a kid! When he asked me how old I was and I told him 51 he was definitely a little taken aback. As we approached the water stop near the Boston Public Gardens I lost him and didn’t see him again until the end of the race. I passed the 3 mile marker in 6:35 still pretty happy with my time knowing that I really wanted to save something for that home stretch and a strong finishing kick. Now for the problem mile, this seems to be a consistent issue for me as I have begun to improve my times and I’m running closer to the “front” of the pack I seem to get to a point in each of my last four races where I am going along at a great pace and then I just don’t even realize that I have slowed down for no reason. Well this one really sucked because I was cruising quite nicely and no one was passing me as I continued through downtown Boston down Washington Street to Congress Street and I pass the 4 mile marker in 7:27…what the f*#k is really all I could think of at the time. I was absolutely disgusted with myself at this point and just dug down deep for what I knew was going to be a tough finishing mile. We continued down Congress Street and made the left onto Surface Artery and then that final turn back onto Seaport Boulevard and the final climb up the overpass. All right just about a half mile to go I said to myself as I made the turn and just held a steady pace on the climb up the overpass and then dug down deep and began to pick it up as I could hear the announcer calling out names of finishers and I just gave it absolutely everything I had and crossed the finish line with a 6:04 final mile and a time of 32:50. Before I get to the end results I have to tell you that I got something to drink took off my chip and my bib number and headed back out on the course in reverse to meet up with a former co-worker and his wife who still works for our department as they were running the half marathon and I told them I would meet up with them and run with them to the finish. I got a lot of funny looks and comments about going the wrong way etc. you know the routine! I finally met them somewhere between mile 9 and 10, I was actually beginning to worry that I might have missed them when Kevin called out to me. It turns out that his wife Jamie had been fighting a cold so they were both not really running a very fast race at all and I told them I would run with them and they could let me know if they wanted to pick it up or slow it down. Jamie really wanted to finish somewhere around 2 hours and knew that she was going to have to pick it up if she wanted to accomplish that goal so right around mile 11 she said ok Bob let’s go! So we picked up the pace and ran the last two plus miles in right around an 8:00 minute pace. I had a great time pushing her to finish strong and actually got a few others motivated towards the last half as we climbed the hill and finished real strong. We literally picked off hundreds of runners during that last 2.1 miles which was really quite a good feeling as I had never come from that far back in a race to finish like that. Jamie’s final time 2:00:04, not bad at all, and Kevin finished not too far back at 2:02:42. By the time I got through the refreshment line and got my medal and something to eat and drink I had already missed the 5 mile award ceremony so I had to hunt down the official times. 1 – To set a 5 mile distance PR – old time was 33:39 – done – 32:50 – 44 / 1554
2 – Place in my age group – done – 2nd / 67
3 – Place in the law enforcement division – done – 3rd /107 So I did accomplish all of the goals I set out with one exception, I had a real deep down goal of finishing with a time of 31:xx and know that I had that in me and were it not for the time lost in that fourth mile I would have been there. All in all I am very happy but definitely not satisfied with my own discipline as a runner. I have to figure this part of the mental game out to get better and I know it. My fondest memory of this one, finishing with Jamie, what a ball those final 2.1 miles were!
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Bob
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