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.