Sunday, March 8, 2009

Ran a Race, Finally

This morning, I ran in the WPLR ShamRock & Roll 5K, sponsored by our local classic rock station, and benefiting the New Haven Diaper Bank, a very cool organization. I did OK -- an official time of 31:42, just over 10 minutes per mile, coming in 820 out of 1270 overall, 131 out of 157 in my age division, and #1, as far as I know, in the subvision of Old Fat Guys with Cancer. (As usual.)

Official results are here.

The 31:42 is the official time, but with such a huge field, it took a minute and 7 seconds to reach the starting line, so I'm putting myself unofficially at 30:35, five seconds slower than when I ran this race last year.

It was a beautiful 45 degrees and sunny at the start of the race. I was tired before I even began -- I lost an hour of sleep with the time change, plus we all went to a St. Patrick's day dinner/dance last night, and I helped with the set up and the break down, and then threw Catherine around the dance floor a little bit, so I was tired this morning. (That's me in the picture on the left with two of the teachers from the kids' school.) On top of that, I think the ear infection I had two weeks ago is coming back. So those are all of my official excuses, which every runner needs.


The ShamRock & Roll starts at Toad's Place, an iconic New Haven rock club, and goes up Prospect Street, about three-quarters of a mile straight uphill. I've been doing some hill training lately, so I managed to pass some people on the way up. The trip down was a little easier, and I actually had enough energy to pick it up near the end of the race and pass a few more people in the last few hundred yards.



So it was overall a good race, my first in more than 4 months. It was nice to run outside again and to push myself a little bit. Most importanly, I look good, as you can see. I need a nap, but it all felt good at the time.

7 comments:

mike said...

St Pat's race, and no beer? What's the world coming to.

Lymphomaniac said...

There was beer at the race finish, courtesy of Toad's. And free day-old scones from the bakery down the street. Breakfast of champions...

Joe said...

Careful, Bob. If you keep bragging about being the fastest Fat Old Guy With Cancer, eventually some other FOGWC is going to come out of the woodwork and show you up.

Lymphomaniac said...

I welcome the challenge. Bring it on.

Anonymous said...

Good time. I'm doing the Shamrock "run" this weekend in Portland but I won't be posting any times, thank you very much. :)mary

Lymphomaniac said...

Good luck, Mary! And keep telling yourself, "At least I'm not wearing snow shoes...."

Anonymous said...

But I like wearing snowshoes. They do get a little clumsy in the shower.
~Mary S-B