Kerrymen Pub 5k

Not Racing.

Yesterday was pretty cool, it was the first time I have ever "raced" with the hubby at the Kerrymen Pub 5k. I have to put "race" in quotes because I chose not to race it yesterday, opting to keep my focus on the big picture (thank you Michelle Ford) which is my training schedule. 

What am I training for? A handful of Rev3 Half's and the big dance, Rev3 Cedar Point Full in Sept.

It was a pretty full week of training with a long bike with some strength work on Saturday and Sunday was a long run after the 5k. Sweet. Never done THAT before...but I do whatever Sharpie tells me to do (I'm submissive like that! ha...probably the only time in my life that I am).

Last year I went into this race to race and seeking a sub-22, which I missed by :25 seconds but walked away from that with a shiny new PR of 22:24. At the time, I was disappointed that I did not meet my goal and I did not appreciate the fact that I ran hard and gave it my all. This year I had initially wanted to chase that 21:xx minute clock again but realistically, this is not what my training is about right now. It really wasn't that important to me and that long run was important to me...so I made the decision to run the race and keep the focus on my training run.  

This is a pretty big event for a local 5k, about 1200 runners and a ton of people participate in the walk, Mary's Walk. The event is a fundraiser for Maine Cancer Fund and the race is in honor of a local woman, Mary Kerry, who died of cancer and this is the route she used to walk daily. This is the 15th year of the race and there were 3,000 people registered for the event!

We parked about a half mile away from the start and got out to warm up. It was rather cold for March (28*)  and there was a bitter cold wind but it was sunny! I really wanted to wear something cute, like a glittery green running skirt and knee socks but I don't have anything like...so I rocked my blue Rev3 gear with a smile (and three layers under it!).

Casey and I warmed up for a bit and then we found Marc, who was also running today. We ran a bit and lined up for the start. Then we found Jon, a friend of Casey's and one of the athletes I have been working with since the fall.

This race shuts down half of Route 1 through town and seeds the start by your run time (I love this!) but with that many people running there is always a delay to get moving.

Ready...set....GO!

 I started with Marc and Casey and the first mile was a very comfortable 7:20 and then you round the corner and head right into a wind and a slight incline for a bit. Round another corner and there is a water stop to the left and where I got jammed up...as I eased out to the right, a group of young runners blocked me. Around another corner and another slight incline...and WIND! My pace dropped to 7:40 for the second mile, around another corner and into the home stretch.

because it would not be a race without at tongue out pic, right??

running happy here, almost done!

I had been running with a local tri friend, Kim for a bit and I was just watching her run-so gazelle like! She's got these long, lean legs and she appeared to be just floating along...run, run, run. I had not seen Casey or Marc in a bit and I was just chugging along when I felt a tap on my shoulder at mile 2.5. It was Casey!! I smiled at him and we ran together for a bit and as we got a tad closer to the finish, with about a .25 mile to go, he took off...and then Marc ran past me, chasing after Casey and he was on a mission! I could tell he was out for blood and did NOT want Casey to finish before him. I just kept running, watch Casey just GO towards the finish with Marc going after him. I think I was smiling and laughing a bit but proud at the same time.

Marc on his way to a +1 min PR

Double PR!! Jon by 4+ mins and Casey by 1:30

Casey finished in 23:16 (smashing his previous 5k time by more than a minute and a half)

Marc finished in 23:24 (another awesome PR!! by over a minute!)

Me? I finished in 23:46 (I was predicting a 23:30 finish) 

Jon finished in 28:52 (the biggest PR of the day by more than 4 minutes!!)

I was so psyched to see the three of them get huge PR's!! One proud Coach for sure!

The wind was blowing and I was cold...it was time to get moving and get my training run done so it was time to say goodbye to everyone and get going.

Later on as I was checking out the official results. I had run today at a comfortably-hard effort that was more in line with how I would pace a 10k, I certainly did not put the pedal to the metal today...and as I checked the results I was a bit bummed. A "comfortably-hard" effort had placed me 8th in my age group! Now if I had pushed it today, could I have snagged an AG award?? Who knows...but would that have brought me any closer to my goals? Probably not...in addition to the 5k today, I got an additional easy 9 miles on the books and THAT is what is going to get me closer to my goals today.

Regardless, it was a super fun day and I am proud of my guys for crushing it out there!!