Saturday, September 18, 2010

Big Dog 5K

I woke up this morning around 8:30 and had some pre-race fuel. I was a little tired because after babysitting last night I met some friends at a bar in Faneuil Hall for a birthday celebration and I enjoyed a few beers. Oops!

The usual: toast, PB, banana, coffee
After a little digestion, Evan and I walked over to the Hatch Shell on the Charles River where the Big Dog race started. The Hatch Shell is about 1.2 miles from our house and took us around 20 minutes to walk.








We arrived around 10:30 and I immediately checked in and picked up my number. Unfortunately, I did not receive a T-shirt because only the first 500 people that signed up got one. Oh well, after registration I ran an easy mile and then participated in the "group" stretch led by a fitness instructor at Northeastern. We all (750 runners) lined up at the start line and got ready to run.




The course was relatively flat and it was a BEAUTIFUL day in Boston, so all the conditions were perfect. However, it was a little hard to get out of the gate because the race path was narrow and there were a LOT of people. So, I tried to go extra fast when the gun went off to try to get a good spot and pull away from the crowd. Since my first mile my was fast (6:53) I was tired and started to slow down by mile 2 and 3.


Here are my splits according to my Garmin.

Distance: 3.12
Time: 22:22
Mile 1: 6:53
Mile 2: 7:11
Mile 3: 7:24
Mile .12: 0:46

All in all it was a pretty good race and I placed 45 out of 750 people (I think, but I am not 100% sure if all 750 people showed up ). I am a little disappointed that there is such a large discrepancy between mile 1 and 3. My goal going forward (especially for the half) is to try and have my splits be more even and not start out so fast. I think my overall time might have been a little faster if I didn't start out so fast and tried to keep all my miles at a 7 minute pace.

In addition I realized that at the end of races I kinda give up mentally and just say "Oh yes I am done! No need to push now" instead of saying "come on give it all you got." Going forward I am definitely going to try and push a little more at the end of the race. After I finished I did a slow 1/2 mile to cool down and then stretched.


Overall I had fun on a beautiful day in Boston! I also experienced NO knee pain during or after the race!!!

However, best of all was my GREAT cheering section! Thank you mom, dad and Evan for coming!!!



After the race everyone was STARVING, so I quickly walked back to my apartment, iced my knees, and took a shower. We then all (plus my brother who just woke up) walked over to a local bar (Clerys) for lunch.


First things first, I started out with a Shipyard Pumpkin Ale (my FAVORITE Pumpkin beer/overall beer)!



We then ordered a few appetizers for the table (white bean and goat cheese bruschetta and boneless wings). I had one piece of the bruschetta.


It was VERY good, I LOVE bread!!! For my meal I ordered the Harvest Salad with shrimp. This salad contained arugula as a base with walnuts, blue cheese, pear slices and craisins with balsamic on the side.


The salad was great, I highly recommend it!  I was STUFFED about 3/4ths of the way through, must have been the 1.5 bottles of beer? It was a great lunch with lots of laughs and good food!


I am off to relax and maybe look at sneakers before Evan and I meet some friends for dinner. Hope you are having a great weekend!!!

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