Weekly Log 13-Jun to 19-Jun-2022: Falls River workout

Monday:  15 ride, 6 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Easy spin on the usual CCW route through Avondale, Watch Hill, Misquamicut, and Weekapaug.  Interesting how there are also bike/pedestrian lanes now along the state beach portion.

New bike/pedestrian lanes along Misquamicut State Beach

Also stopped and checked out Surftown new course start/finish markers.  It is an interesting course change for Surftown this year in that it runs west first to Watch Hill, including the Larkin Road hill for the first time, and then the final portion is the easternmost section (Weekapaug) before finishing at Wuskenau.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Wahaneeta and Woody Hill run with Matthew.  Pretty hot, so left Brady at home.  First (and second) deerfly kills of the season.

Tuesday:  5 run, 2 walk

Westerly, RI.  Pre-CCC OAB on Atlantic Avenue from Weekapaug Breachway.  

Westerly, RI.  Grills white trail clearing.  So overgrown already.  Used both a bladed weed-whacker, and a gas hedge trimmer.  Seemed effective, but will it reduce the annual fall overgrowth clearing at all?  Time will tell.

Wednesday:  14

AM:  Charlestown, RI.  10 miles.  VG in reverse with Matthew and Brady, plus Burlingame Trail tacked on to bypass the campground.  Two more deerfly kills.  Cool-off in Watchaug Pond.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  4 miles.  Fun Run week #3.  Had no specific plans, but ran fairly hard with Thomas McLaughlin and Jonny Eckel for the first mile (5:46).  Went ahead of both of them running down Kathleen Drive, the only hill on the course.  I figured at least one of them would catch me on my weakness, going back uphill, but neither did.  5:50 pace for Mile 2, and picked it for the final mile at 5:42 pace.

Thursday:  11

West Greenwich, RI.  Workout from Stepstone Falls.  This was physically and mentally tough.  I suppose that's the sign of a good workout?

Matthew planned this one out.  Parked right near the falls.  Had never driven there before.  After a 3-mile OAB road warm-up, we got down to business:

• 5 x Falls River Road climb, approximately 250' ascent over 1K on a dirt road

On the second ascent, I was thinking of a way to get out of doing all five, but fortunately I stuck to it.  I felt like I was working hard, despite all of my efforts being north of 9-minute pace.  We took the final downhill hard, but due to some watch or Strava error, my effort was recorded at 14:37 pace!  I was just curious if my true pace was sub-5 or not, but I guess I won't know unless I try it again.

Dirt road we ran on

Finished up with a trail cool-down on the Ben Utter Trail, and then a short soak in the river just above the falls.

Where we cooled off post-run, just above the falls

River is flowing well!

Friday:  7

Charlestown, RI.  With Matthew and Brady.  Parked at the Kings Factory Road trailhead, and ran VG / Sammy / Lenny / North Camp / VG in a CCW direction.  Deerflies were the worst yet, with 8 DFKs.  Stripped down to my running shorts and dove under the water at North Camp Beach.  Felt good.

Saturday:  4

Stony Point, NY.  No, driving 5 hours round-trip to run 4 miles was not the plan.  But not all plans go according to script.  The plan was for a 15-mile mountain running adventure with about 4,300' elevation gain.

After arriving, loading our packs, and planning to meet again at the summit of Bear Mountain, we were off.  Running up the relatively technical Major Welch Trail, Matthew was soon out of sight.  Or so I thought.  I don't know exactly where it happened, but it was early in the run when I came over the crest of a hill and saw Matthew sitting on a rock and hunched over.  Uh-oh, this can't be good, I thought to myself.  It wasn't.  Whatever transpired between his right foot and uneven ground on the trail resulted in a very visibly swollen ankle.  After stopping for a while, Matthew got going but unfortunately was unable to run.  We made it to the top of Bear Mountain with me running and taking breaks and him walking.  While I generally eschew auto roads on mountains, in this case I was happy there was one as it meant I could run down and drive up to save him from any further agony or injury aggravation.  I don't regret not being able to finish my run, but just regret the temporary damage to Matthew's ankle.  Let's hope he recovers quickly.

Near the start of our run

Disgusting creatures

It wasn't THAT rugged and steep.  It was just about all
runnable, and moderately technical.

Nice views from the top.

Unfortunately access to the tower at summit was closed and locked.

Sunday:  11

Westerly, RI.  Couldn't make up my mind on what to do.  Preference was for a long trail run, but waking up at 6am to steady rain meant the trails and rocks would be wet.  Defer that to tomorrow, as tomorrow is a holiday, and run local today.  Ran to Avondale and met up with a smaller RWYC group that was running today.  Ending up running the first 5 miles of the route with Simon, as everyone else was running 8 minutes/mile or slower (nothing wrong with that of course, but just doesn't work as well for me).  Anyhow, Simon seems kind of quiet and I did most of the talking.  It's funny how for an introverted person I really enjoy talking with others during runs.  I even talk to Brady quite a bit when it's just the two of us.  Brady talks even less than Simon.  

I turned off at my usual spot (East Beach, Watch Hill) to run the beach home.  It was at this point that I regretted bringing Brady, but this time of the year dogs have to be off the beach by 8am and it was closer to 9am at this point.  Took off my shoes and ran barefoot for two miles on the way home.

Weekly mileage:  58 run, 15 ride, 2 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Another good week of running hit my goals (minus a long run), plus the return of bike rides.

Weekly highlight:  Stepstone Falls workout.  Did much better than I feared.

Weekly lowlight:  While the return of deerflies is pretty nasty, I'm more sorry to see Matthew injured.  Again.

Weekly Log 6-Jun to 12-Jun-2022: Southern Humidity

Monday:  7

Tampa, FL.  Got up at 6am for a sunrise run before a busy day.  This far west in the Eastern Time Zone, the sun rises and sets much later than back at home.  Even at sunrise it was still 75° with 90% humidity.  Ugh.  Well, still need to get it done.  My singlet was pretty much soaked by Mile 1, but with thanks to my friend BodyGlide, I did not chafe or bleed anywhere.  Ran the very short distance from my hotel to the Courtney Campbell Causeway paved path, which parallels Route 60 but runners have a protected lane.  The path goes all the way to Clearwater, but seven miles would do for today.

Running along the path, just before sunrise

Attractive natural scenery

For most of the span, the bike/pedestrian path was adjacent
to the road, but there we had our separate bridge away from cars

Back at the hotel, since I was drenched with sweat already, took a quick dip in the hotel pool before getting breakfast (great buffet and plenty of fruit and fresh juices) and starting my grinding day.

The hotel pool looks nice, but it was disappointingly
not refreshing at all as the water was like bath water

My "job" today was driving this U-Haul truck from Mark's 
apartment, seen here in Tampa, to temporarily store his stuff
at my brother's house just outside Augusta, Georgia.
---
It wasn't particularly difficult to drive, but certainly uncomfortable
being in the truck for almost 9 hours, especially during heavy
rain storms and state highways with ZERO shoulders.

Tuesday:  9 run, 1 walk

Columbia County, GA.  Drove early morning to the northern terminus of the Augusta Canal Path.  Again, early morning, temp was already in the 70s with humidity at 92%.  Easy, flat run along the canal.  Quite a few people out walking, running, and biking.  Glad I brought a towel from the hotel as I was again drenched.

Falls at the start of the run.

Most of the run looked like this.

Dessert after dinner in final night (for now) in the south.
Rich and delicious, but couldn't even finish it.
I was glad we walked to/from the restaurant, as I was stuffed.

Wednesday:  4 walk, 4 run

AM:  Up before 5am for shuttle to airport and return flights to RI.  Walked 2 miles in Atlanta airport and then 2 in Philly waiting for transfer.

First time in years that we used a moveable staircase instead
of a jetway to board the aircraft.  Mark (just ahead of me)
said it might have been his first time ever.
---
I much prefer larger jets.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Fun Run week #2.  Between travel fatigue and racing in two days, opted to take it slower and easy.  6:30 average pace for a 20:37 finish.

Thursday:  6

Westerly, RI.  Late afternoon run with Brady in Woody Hill.  Sunny and warm 75°.

Friday:  10

AM:  Charlestown, RI.  3-mile shakeout, with Brady, on dirt roads in Burlingame North.

PM:  East Lyme, CT.   Niantic Bay 10K.  Separate write-up to follow.

Saturday:  16

Stonington, CT.  Busy day with a brother's wedding celebration in the afternoon and Tom McCoy's trail dedication in the morning.  When Justin P reached out to me to ask if I would run before the trail dedication, I saw a way to kill not two, but three birds with one stone.  (Just an expression; no birds were harmed in this exercise.)  Got my long run in from Stonington High School (site of McCoy trail dedication), finally got out to run the new red trail (being dedicated to Tom McCoy) and measure that for inclusion in our Stonington XC 5K Fun Run, and attended the dedication itself, all in one fell swoop.  Kind of.

Ran 11 solo on mostly quiet roads, including dead end roads in Wequetequock and dirt roads in Barn Island Management Area.  Screwed up twice trying to return to the back trail entrance to SHS.  Kept going down one-way streets until I remembered that the route back (from Palmer / Moss St) was actually a gated dirt road, not an open asphalt road at all.

Met up with Dave and Justin to run the Stonington course with the red trail swapped in as recommended by town officials.  This will also eliminate the 2-way trail traffic problem we have had in past years.  At least on GPS, the route came out a little long at 3.22 miles, so we think we will eliminate the perimeter run of the first artificial turf field and then try wheel measuring.

Sunday:  8

Charlestown, RI.  2-mile warm-up with Brady and Matthew, with most of the run on Sanctuary Road (dirt).  Came back to the start (picnic area) at the appointed time of 6:45am to meet up with Chris, Tommy, Mike, and one of Mike's co-workers/friends.  Went for a very easy run up to the Ninigret tower and on the Burlingame Trail.  Finished up with a dip in the pond and a get-together at Dave's Coffee for coffee and scones.

Weekly mileage:  61 run, 4 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Tiring week with travel.  At least I still hit my weekly goal.   And it's fun to run in different states.

Weekly highlight:  The run, pond dip, and coffee get-together with friends on Sunday.  The Florida run could be a contender if it weren't so uncomfortably humid.

Weekly lowlight:  Saturday's long run.  I get the miles in, but a number of them were on pretty busy roads.

Weekly Log 30-May to 5-Jun-2022: Swim Time!

Monday:  6

Charlestown, RI.  Memorial Day.  First Dash & Splash of the year.  Very easy, even slow, but I just felt it was right to go slow today.  Best part of the run was technically not part of the run at all:  the post-run swim!

Love this pic mid-air jump into pond, with only Brady's
back paws remaining on dock

(Photo credit to Matthew)

 

Now it's Brady's turn for a full outstretched leap,
as I'm on my way down

What goes up ...

Tuesday:  10 run, 2 walk

Westerly, RI.  With heat and humidity, I knew I "had" to get in a run early, before CCC, if I were to get in a run at all.  I originally mapped out a 16-miler, but that wasn't going to work timewise, and now in hindsight, it wasn't going to work at all for me with the weather.  Temperature was "only" 67° but combined with a humidity of 90% and my lack of any acclimation this early in the season, it sure felt much hotter.  

Picked a route I had never run before, a loop from Weekapaug up moderately busy roads and back on a combination of trail (Woody Hill) and super quiet roads.  Running past the Bousquet house, I took full advantage of a hose that Shara was using for watering.  I was parched and doused myself.  Was relieved to arrive back at Weekapaug Breachway and finish the run.  While I ran sub-7, barely, it wasn't easy and I felt pretty awful.  The price I had to pay was post-run and I just felt tired and weak for the rest of the whole day.

---

Westerly, RI.  2 miles walking during CCC, refreshing blazes on the perimeter trail.

Wednesday:  4

Westerly, RI.  First week of the 47th annual Tom McCoy Family Fun Runs.  Unfortunately Tommy informed me that at age 85, this is the first year he won't be joining us, which I regret but understand, and the show must go on.

We had 15 children show up for the kids' run and 72 for the 1K / 5K.  Not bad for the first week.  I had planned to run it relatively easy, but when the first few runners took it out hard right off the line, the competitive nature in me threw my plans out the window.  Game on!  Dave led out but was soon passed by a guy that I didn't recognize.  By the end of the first mile (5:48 for me), I had been passed by two more runners (a McLaughlin and Brandon Tallardy) and I feared more were soon to follow.

Very shortly thereafter, my luck changed as I re-passed those two and catapulted back into 3rd.  I know that's all kind of meaningless in a fun run, but it's helpful to have some goal to chase.  It's not that I picked it up in the 2nd mile, but rather that the other two slowed down more than me.  Dave passed the mystery guy and I caught up to him at the end of Mile 2, despite my slowing to 6:01.  The guy told me "Good work" as I went passed, and I wasn't confident he wouldn't come back after to me, so I actually picked up back in Mile 3 (5:51) and finished 2nd in 18:34.  While the cool weather helped, I'm pretty happy with that.

Team WTAC at Fun Run Week #1

Thursday:  10

West Greenwich, RI.  Hill workout on Plain Meetinghouse Road.  After a "warm up" on a hilly trail, we were after it:  5 x 300' hill.  I kept the first four climbs in a pretty tight range of 8:47-8:56 pace, and then on the fifth and final I went as close to all out as I could with an 8:34 pace.

We were originally going to run six, but cut it down to five and instead added one hard downhill.  Surprisingly, I held my own on the uphills.  We had a little break for the final downhill, so I went over to speak to the man that spreading mulch on his property on the "course".  He had yelled out to me during my workout, but I couldn't quite make out what he said.  When I stopped, he said he was really impressed with how many times I had run up the hill.  He asked me my age (I'm 57 vs his 59) and said that he really missed running but had to give it up due to some type of injury.

Final downhill on the same 3/4 mile segment with a 300' loss:  3:15 (4:36 pace).  

Friday:  8

Westerly, RI.  Grills with Brady and Matthew.  May be the last run here until fall, as both the overgrowth and ticks are getting bad.

Saturday:  7 run, 2 walk

Charlestown, RI.  "Trust Me, You'll Love It" trail race.  Write-up to follow.  I'm getting pretty behind on blog.  :(

---

Philadelphia, PA.  2+ mile walking in fairly large airport, killing time on delayed connector flight to visit my son Mark.  The flight ended up being about 3 hours late, which killed our dinner plans and reservations in Tampa that Mark had made.

Sunday:  17

Hillsborough County, FL.  (Just outside of Tampa.)   I'm down in Florida for a few days to help Mark move out of his current apartment and to Atlanta, as he's switched jobs and gotten a big bump in pay and benefits.  

Today is mostly a down day for me before meeting up with an old high school friend and Florida transplant for dinner.  Planned out a route almost exclusively on trails, by linking together several different trail and park systems.  Parked at Trout Creek Park and paid the $2 parking fee.  Quite reasonable, and the self-ticketing machines take credit cards, so all worked well.

80° and sunny at start, with 85% humidity.  Knowing the weather, I had brought my hydration pack and loaded it with ice from the hotel and then filled the rest of the 2-liter bladder with cold water.  Picked up some salty trail mix as well, and put that in my pack.  Fortunately, most of the run was under a dense tree canopy, as when I popped out into the open sun on a few occasions, I felt I was just baking out there.

Starting location of today's run

And start of the run itself.

Very different vegetation along the trail.
We're not in New England anymore!

Some of the trails were MTB.
While all or at least most of the trails were marked,
I couldn't remember the pre-planned route by trail name.

Instead, I had created and downloaded my route to my watch,
and used the awesome navigation feature of the Fenix 5 Plus.
(Here the watched beeped, and is telling me I have a left hand
turn coming up in 168', as well as showing where I am
[the blue chevron] and the trail overlays.)

These sections were brutally hot.

More cool vegetation along the trail.

There is an alligator lurking among the lily pads
here adjacent to the trail.  Between that and the
brown color of this river, I'm staying away.

This river on the other hand is clear enough that I was
comfortable to put my hands in and rinse the sweat and crud
off my face.

Thrilled to finish this one, with an air of accomplishment.  The temp was in the upper 80s when I finished and what little that was left of the ice water was now lukewarm.  Fortunately I had stashed additional ice water in my car as well, and that was still cold inside my insulated water bottle.

Weekly mileage:  62 run, 4 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Really a great week, with quite the diversity:  first "dash & splash", return of the Fun Runs, a tough hill workout, a trail race, and a heat acclimation long run in Florida.  I even saw an alligator on the latter!

Weekly highlight:  The Florida 17-miler.  Was hot as hell, but gave me a sense of accomplishment, and I like runs that mix it up to keep me interested.

Weekly lowlight:  Overgrowth and ticks.

Weekly Log 23-May to 29-May-2022: Pinelands Week

Monday:  0

Planned day off.  First time in two weeks.

Tuesday:  2 walk, 8 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Led a team of five finishing out blazing trails at the new Cottrell Preserve.  Three of us blazed the new red loop, and two more a yellow spur.

At Charlestown DD getting a bagel and cleaning up
post-CCC and pre-run.  I thought nothing of it,
until my order taker asked me, "Is that paint on your hands?"
When I replied "yes", he said, "I sure hope it is."
It finally dawned on me that coming in to DD and going to the
bathroom to clean up red paint on my hands and changing out of
clothes with red paint on them could be construed as cleaning
up blood after a crime.  While there could be some joke in this,
I'll leave it alone as I felt badly to make him uncomfortable with
my appearance.

PM:  Charlestown, RI.  Ran one of my favorite road loops:  Quonochontaug.  Average 6:41 pace.  Temps in the mid-60s in bright sunshine.  Nonetheless I didn't feel badly at all.  Until I finished.  And then for the rest of the day I just felt tired and week.  Guess I have a ways to go to acclimate to the warmer weather.

Wednesday:  9

Charlestown, RI.  Late afternoon Rhody loop run, with Matthew and Brady.  Added on trail down to North Camp and back.  Waded around in Watchaug Pond at North Camp, and to my surprise, the water was very comfortable, as just two weeks ago it felt frigid.  Saw no one else out there.  To me, that's a big advantage over places like Bluff.

Thursday:  8

Exeter, RI.  Late afternoon run with Matthew and Brady.  Two days out from Pineland Farms trail race, we took it easy on both terrain and pace at Arcadia.

Friday:  6

Charlestown, RI.  Easy morning run at Ninigret.

Saturday:  17

New Gloucester, ME.  Pineland Farms 25K.  Separate write-up to follow.

Sunday:  8 run, 1 walk

AM:  West Greenwich, RI.  Tillinghast mid-morning run with Brady and Matthew.  Starting to get overgrown in a few places, but mostly fine.  Tillinghast is unbearable in summer to me anyway due to deerflies.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Short and easy walk at Wahaneeta with friends before a house party, fire, and outdoor dinner and dessert.

At a neighbor's house party.  I went over to check out this 
BMW Z3 convertible, when the owner, a retired doctor,
told me the keys are in it and I should take it for a spin.
He didn't have to ask me twice, and I was gone!
5-speed manual and really fun to drive.
The grin on my face is genuine.

Weekly mileage:  55 run, 3 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Another good running week.  No long training run, but understandable with a 25K trail race on the weekend instead.

Weekly highlight:  Pineland Farms 25K.

Weekly lowlight:  None

Double-header Race Weekend: Shad and Mystic

Shad Bloom 10K Trail Race

New Shoreham, RI

Saturday, May 14, 2022

While I've run many back-to-back race weekends in the past, it's something I generally try to avoid these days.  As I get older, I sense the need for a longer recovery period.  But between wanting to run Shad Bloom with the WTAC crew and Mystic 10K with the WLT staff, I opted to run both.

Shad Bloom is at an odd time of 1pm.  Not only odd for trying to figure out how and when to eat, but also which ferry to take.  The 9am ferry lands with 3 hours to spare, and the 11am ferry lands with about an hour to spare, but after deducting disembarkation and walking time (the bus was not running again this year due to COVID) you're really left with about 1/2 hour to check in and warm up.

Went with the 11am ferry, although I'm still not convinced this is the optimal option.  Picked up a sandwich en route to the ferry and ate it immediately after boarding.  I had hoped Matthew would race and defend his title, but at least he came along for the ride and company.  Last year we had 15 WTAC runners, but this year was a bit smaller crowd with seven.

Race start to Mile 2 - dirt roads:  This year with COVID race restrictions completely lifted (except the bus) including the need for staggered starts, the start reverted back to the traditional location on the east side of the Block Island School.  The gun went off and in the short distance going around the school, a pack of three (Steve Brightman, Adrian Masse, and a mystery kid) were quickly ahead of me.  Nick was just ahead of me, and I was in 5th.  The road quickly turns from asphalt to dirt.  I caught up to Nick about a 1/2 mile in.  We ran together for a little bit, and he said today wasn't his today (I can't remember why) and I'd be ahead of him.  Just about then a young woman ran past both of us.  Although she is not in my age group or obviously my sex, I found it helpful to go with her, so I did.  For the rest of the dirt road, we alternated positions but stayed pretty close, as she'd pass me on uphills and vice-versa on downhills.  As we approached the end of the dirt road, I noted to myself that I would normally see the leaders here climbing the next section, grassy trails on open meadows, but it was so fogged in that I couldn't see anyone.  I entered the grass trail just ahead of the lead woman and I could hear but not see pounding surf below me.

Start of race
(Pics courtesy of Rachel)

Mile 2 to finish - grass trails:  We climb 70' or so up grass trails away from the ocean.  On the climb, the lead woman stays right with me until we start to descend with some twisty turns and then her footsteps drop off.  At Mile 4, we descend to the lowest point on the course:  Rodman's Hollow.  On the 130' ascent out of the hollow, I gradually catch and pass Adrian, who is power hiking.  I ask him if he's OK, as I don't expect to catch him and suspect he's not having a great day.  He is indeed having a tough day, as he's fine but out of gas.  He gives me some encouragement and I'm off.  I really feel the ascent is easier than I expected and that leads me to question whether that was really Rodman Hollow or whether it is still yet to come.  When I come out to the road with a water stop and 15 or so people, that answers my question and I know the "worst" is behind me.

After a short section on the road, I go on the very awkward stepladder-thing that gets you across the stone wall.  I remember that last year at this point I was so weak that I stumbled a bit and almost fell, and then really struggled in the final mile.  This year I am feeling much better, and just over the stone wall, I have a clear view to my left of runners on the road approaching the stepladder-thing I just went over.  The girl is next with Adrian just behind her.  OK, I'll need to push the next mile as both are coming after me.  There isn't much change in elevation here and it is pretty much all grass trails.  Once we get out to the road, I know we have just under a half-mile to go and I am able to pick it up to sub-6 pace as I am running scared of being retaken by Adrian.  I would really like that podium finish.  I "sprint" through the finish line 22 seconds of Adrian, who in turn finishes three seconds ahead of the lead woman.  Nick comes through about two minutes behind her, so yeah, unfortunately probably not his day.

Finished!

Final results:  40:25, 3rd overall of 140  Full results here

On a cool down, I learn the lead woman is Taylor and we have a good conversation, as well as getting additional tips from Adrian on my upcoming ultra.  We get back with plenty of time before awards and I'm really glad I brought a change of clothes, as it's very humid here.  After awards, we head to the ferry.  This was a good day, and I like being on the Block.  Until the next time ...

---

Mystic 10K

Stonington, CT

Sunday, May 15, 2022

I've run the Mystic Half before (as a pacer several years ago) but never the Mystic 10K.  Both races share the first 5.5 miles or so.  The race had an early start of 7am, which is good to get it done and out of the way.  With a combined field of over 1,000 runners and many of the roads closed, it makes sense to start early on a Sunday morning.  

Local knowledge of the starting area helped me greatly.  As I got off Route 95 in Mystic about 6:15am, I noticed a long line of bumper-to-bumper cars snaking down Route 27 and around and through the village.  OK, I'll get out of this line and travel the short frontage road along Route 95 and go in the back way.  Great, I was at a parking spot in the village in about two minutes.  Got out of the car and saw the long of runners waiting outside the porta-jons.  Fine, I'll bypass those and go next door to the Mystic Aquarium where they have bathroom buildings accessible from outside the aquarium parking lot.  I was the only person in the bathroom.  Hurray for the small things.

Race start:  After a short warm-up, I lined up near the front and said hello to the few runners and spectators that I knew out of the massive crowds.  The police closed down the first few miles of the course, including all of the initial Route 27 section and the Route 1 section including the Mystic drawbridge, which was really cool to be able to run in the middle of these busy roads unencumbered by any traffic.

A young fit-looking woman went out fast off the line, ahead of me, but behind 4 or 5 guys.  A shirtless muscular guy barreled past me very early on, but otherwise not much change in position once we settled in.  The river view scenery was really great on both sides of the river as we ran right alongside for miles.  My first mile was my slowest at 5:57, and that was with a slight net downhill.  The temperature wasn't too hot at 57°, but the humidity was abominable.  My Strava post shows a humidity of 94% but it felt even worse than that as I was pretty wet a mile in and knew this wouldn't be my day for any shot at a PR (36:22).

My miles continued to get slower and slower, with Miles 2, 3, 4 splits being 6:04, 6:08, and 6:13.  As scenic as River Road is, I was glad to turn off of it and just wanted to be done.  I was surprised to see Dave Goodrich here, and he was both volunteering as a course marshal and cheering runners on.  Thanks Dave!  I passed one final runner here, and didn't really know what place I was in, as both the 10K and half marathon runners started at the same time.  Mercifully I was NOT running the half today.

Mile 5 was another 6:13, and while I thought I would pick it up in Mile 6, I just didn't have it.  Mile 6 was a 6:11, and I was so relieved to turn in to the Mystic Aquarium parking lot and finish.  

Final results:  38:14, 5th overall of 715, 1st in age group, 1st Master  Full results here

Not one of my better races today, and while I acknowledge it's not smart to run back-to-back races in the same weekend, I really attribute most of my pace decline to the humidity.

My prize for winning 1st place in my age group.
I guess it's good that it's from a local small business,
and I don't go to races to win prizes,
but will I really use this?

On the other hand, this $5 certificate given to
each runner by sponsor DD has already been put
to good use!