Saturday morning, 14 June, I headed to Quincy to do The Squirrel Run. It's a memorial run and fund raiser sponsored by the Angel Fund to support ALS research. It was a small, well organized race. The course was 5 miles long and fast. It wound through the Wollaston section of Quincy and had a long stretch along Wollaston Beach. The weather was hot and sunny. There was a small hill in the first mile and then the rest of the course was fairly flat. Mile 4-5 repeated a portion of the course between miles 1 and 2 and that small hill was climbed again. The run started and finished in a big park, with a small uphill to the finish line.
I had no idea how to pace this race, there were no starting area markers and I knew only one other person in the field and knew that I was going to be faster than he. I passed the first mile marker under 8, but I didn't mark a lap until the mile 2 marker. This is where I'm going to let my splits tell the story:
Miles 1-2: 15:19
Mile 3: 6:44 (22:03)
Mile 4: 8:15 (30:18)
Mile 5: 6:51 (37:09)
I came into the finish behind a relative of the guy for whom the race is run -- I ratcheted it back a bit so as not to pass him - he was a guy in his 50s, and a good runner and the crowd was going wild for him. A woman I'd passed in between 3 & 4 out kicked me at the end and beat me by a step . . . that was the only downer of the run for me but she had a nice kick and I congratulated her on her kick. It was a good time and it's got me thinking about how to run Falmouth (which I think I'm in) and what might be possible -- perhaps 52 . . .
I got a 4 mile run in on Cape Cod yesterday. I saw an elderly couple and the guy was funny, saying, "hey you're cheating, I can't do that!" I responded, "Full speed ahead." I couldn't think of anything else to say . . . it was lighthearted interaction on my trot.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Jimmy "The Squirrel" Kennedy Memorial Run for ALS
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2 comments:
Holy crap, two sub-seven miles?! Nice job! With the up and down pace, I say you have a huge potential to log consistent sub-8s with no worries, even for longer runs. You've turned a serious corner, and by the way you're talking about Falmouth, I'd guess you see it, too.
Nice work and congrat's. Awesome to see the speed!
Thanks man. It was pretty inspiring.
I'd been thinking about if I could even run below 7/mile and I got my answer -- and I wasn't trying to do it, it just unfolded. I'm also pumped that the last mile came in sub-7 as well.
Yes, I'm thinking about Falmouth. I've got a goal and that's great. We'll see where it goes.
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