Rhode Island State Police "Foot Pursuit" 5K

One of my favorite races, for both the course (I love Narragansett) and the awesome cookout the state police put on afterward.  Really great race.  This year, after yesterday's disaster at the TARC race, I drove down to the race just to cheer on my WTAC brethren and maybe run a cooldown with them.  I pulled into the parking lot, and started to feel the adrenaline pump: race day activity, everyone decked out in their gear, bibs and race shirts...crap.  This isn't going to be fun at all...

So I don't look like a total idiot, I quickly change into my shorts, shoes and a pullover, and immediately run into FiveK, and he points me toward the rest of the crew.  After exchanging information about my meltdown at the TARC, the question comes up:  Are you here to run???  No, no, just here for support, guys...(insert nervous druggie twitching "must...run...race" here).  I chat with Jana while the guys go out for a warmup, then grab my swag and head back to the car.

My legs felt heavy, sore and stiff, as they should have, and my toe was sting-y, but I decided to try some jog/sprints in the parking lot anyway.  Not great, not horrible...

Run into Muddy, and he says "If you decide to run, awesome.  If you don't, still awesome."  Hmmm, I'd rather be awesome?  Race at 10.  It's 9:50-something.  I stay close to the truck, and finally decide SCREW IT.  I'm running no matter what.  Don't tell my wife, she forbade me from running this race after the TARC...I figure I'll use this as a recovery run, if anything...and I have a policy of never wearing a race shirt if I don't run the race, and the shirt's just too cool to not wear...

Throw the bib on and hit the lineup at 9:58?  Got some approval fistbumps from the crew, and ran into one of my old Sony dudes right before the race, who gave me some encouragements as well.

Took my place in the back half of the field and we're off!  I started out sluggish and cramped, and wishing I hadn't committed to doing it, and then something pretty cool happened:  my legs started getting looser, and while the toe was still painful, I focused on getting my rhythm down and cruising up the road.  As I felt better, I moved a bit faster (see attached, I negative-splitted the entire race) and had a great run...not a PR overall, but I checked my results for this race, and I beat my best time on this course by 30 seconds!  Came in at 23:39, 164th overall of 844 runners.  So glad that peer pressure has its positive effects, as I'd have been completely bummed if I hadn't run this.  I had other friends running other races in CT and Rhody (Beth crushed her 10 mile goal in Newport!!!  Awesome!), and I was stoked to see that there were thousands of people around our area getting their race on.  So cool.

Found out FiveK won!  Muddy came in third, Jeff 6th, Matthew crushed his PR?  And Mike B., fresh off surgery, posts a fantastic comeback time at 21:09???  Great to see a strong WTAC turnout, and we took the team title, which is sweet...several other WTAC'ers I ran into/ran with?  Kelsey S., David S. and John H., who I got to say hello to at mile 2 as I snuck up on him.

Great day.  Perfect weather, I ran, saw friends, had a great time.  Cooldown with the crew...



I plan on getting my speedwork together, and getting faster, now that the long race is out of the way...