Will Run For Beer (or at least a free jacket)

Sunday – June 5th, 2011
Smuttynose 5K

run 4 beer 002 — Styling in the race series jacket

Today ended the 6 race series “Will Run For Beer“. I had done 5 of the 6 events which is all I needed to qualify for a “free” jacket. Mia and I headed over to Newmarket for the festivities. It was an absolutely beautiful day for a race this morning.
I was a little nervous as to how my legs would feel. Friday night Paul, Freestyle and I ended up doing a night ride at Elm Brook State Park until almost 10:30 at night. Saturday Mia and I did a 34 mile road ride, so today I was a little nervous for how my legs would feel. Turns out theY felt pretty darn good. Perhaps I am finally finding some fitness?
The group I was with blasted through the first mile in about 6:05 which is super fast for me. I have always described my running style as “on the fast end of the slow guys”. I toned it back a bit and kept pace with this women Liz (I know that because about 500 people kept cheering her on), who I think was leading the series in her age group. I tried to keep things between 6:50 – 7:05 mile pace so that I did not have a repeat of my complete and utter implosion that happened to me at the Rock N’ Race a few weeks ago. Ended up having to push it right at the end to break that 21 minute mark. Ended with a 20:57 on the official results sheet. Mia did a respectable race too. I think she was a bit disappointed with her time, and our ride yesterday is probably to blame. I thought she did awesome and I am glad we can go to races like this together!
It turned out I made a smart choice in pacing as I felt really consistent throughout the 5K and that seems to be confirmed after looking at my GPS data.

The post race party was pretty cool too. I got a slice of pizza, lots of water, an ice cream sandwich and a few snack packages for work this week. Top that all off with a t-shirt and I am pretty happy with how the day went.

This is probably my last 5K for a little while now. Time to focus on the 24 hours of Pats Peak next weekend and starting some longer/more difficult running events like the Western NH Trail Series. Plus I am dying to get out on some hikes and do some bikepacking (yes bike-packing, not backpacking).