al’s run
once again, my friend ryan assembled a solid group of folks to represent hillrunner.com at Briggs & Al’s Run & Walk for Children’s Hospital. after a few team photos were taken, we warmed up as a team with a leisurely run along wisconsin avenue.
as the start of the race neared, we found our way to the starting line and were sent on our way. while i had initially planned to run the first mile with two of my teammates, i moved out at a bit hotter pace than we had discussed. to be honest, i hadn’t raced since the fourth of july and was a bit fired up to have a number pinned to my shirt.
through the downhill first mile, the course turned north and uphill. shortly after the second mile, a group of bagpipers in full tartan gear were playing…which always amps me up. mile three continued uphill until turning sharply downhill along lafayette hill drive to the flat lincoln memorial drive.
unfortunately, i developed a side-stich during the fourth mile which slowed me a little as i made my way into the finish. regardless, i was able to stop the clock in 30:24 which was thirty two seconds faster than last year. the effort was my fastest five mile race in ten years and ranks as my fourth fastest five mile road race on my all-time list.
Splits 1M - 5:48 2M - 6:08 (11:56) 3M - 5:52 (17:48) 4M - 6:14 (24:02) 5M - 6:22 (30:24) 45th Overall & 4th M40-44 Age Group
after getting a drink of water it was pretty easy to locate my teammates from our matching blue singlets. not only did our team finish 3rd in the community division but a few of our members scored age group awards as well.
============================= 1 28:23 Ryan Hill 2 28:24 Tim King 3 30:01 Rick Smith 4 30:24 Jerry Cameron 5 30:33 Steve Tietz ============================= 3rd 2:27:45 HillRunner.com
once everyone recovered from the race effort, we headed out for a team cool down run back to our vehicles. some of us then headed up to ryan’s house for a post-race bbq that was generously hosted by ryan and his wife. overall, if i were to describe the day i’d say that it was great day to run with a bunch of great people.