Bobby Doyle 5 Miler

I was not set on running this race until the day before.  I signed up early in the day, after getting back from running 13 miles in and around Big River.  I didn’t want to race, I would have been happier to get in a long run, but the people I usually run long with were either doing this race, or not available to run.  Soooo….I knew the only way I would make sure to get in a decent day of running was to go to the damn race.

After my 13 miles on Saturday morning, I spent 6 hours at the bowling alley,  bowling in a tournament and drinking beer.  It felt like a repeat of the Run 4 Kerri the week before.  Fortunately that was not the case.  I woke up a little tired, but not feeling like the previous week. 

My original plan was to get down to Narragansett early and get in 5 miles before doing another 3 warm up before the race.  That was the only thing that I sabotaged.  I slept a little later and only got in 5 miles before the race.

It was overcast and muggy as fuck.  It was not like last year’s horrible weather and it certainly was not like last week’s awesome weather…but it was not weather for fast times.

Although the race was not in the USATF-NE GP Series this year, the race organizers decided to keep the team prizes for USATF teams only.  Jim Pawlicki organized a team over the last month or so and we were able to field both Open and Masters Teams.  We were one runner short of a 50+ team.

Anyway…that was added incentive to run….so here is the race recap.

The first mile is fast and with the millions of High School kids in the race it was fast…I am usually good at not getting caught up in such craziness and did a good job not sprinting out in the first ¼ mile.  I fell in behind Dave and could see Josh and Joe from CMS just ahead.  Teammate Kevin Gorman of Level Renner fame went by me around 0.5 miles.  After the mile, 5:31, I went by Dave and Kevin and shortly after Joe.  Josh would stay ahead throughout the race, I came up on him a few times, but he kept gaping me again.  From 2 on the race was just a grind.  It was humid as hell and nothing felt easy, but we got though mile after mile and final made it past the 4 mile marker.  Before this point I had no clue where the others were behind me, but just after 4 Joe went by me and pulled up along side Josh.  I was waiting for the whole slew of them to come by at this point.  We made the turn onto South Pier Road and headed towards the finish.  This road sucks, it is slightly up hill….VERY slight…but it is straight and just seems to go forever.  Finally I could see the sign where the ¼ to go mark was.  I was keeping Josh and Joe within kicking distance and all of a sudden Joe waves me by…I thought he was letting me go to just out kick me later!  Turns out he said after that he was just spent and feeling like shit.  Right around the same time that Joe waved me bye, I heard someone say, “Go David”  Oh shit!  Dave is right there too!!  This cheering was added incentive to keep at it.  We turned the final corner and through the 8k mark to the finish.

Turns out the 5 scorers on the CMS team were all damn close.  We all finished within 20 seconds!

40th-Josh Perks             28:40.0

42nd-Robert Jackman   28:46.0

43rd-Joe Shairs             28:51.0

44th-David Principe     28:52.0

47th-Kevin Gorman      29:00.0

CMS guys heading out for a cool down.

So a better race then the last, but over a minute slower than 2015 at the same race.  Training over the last few weeks has been good and this week is going similar.  Consistency is the key and I am finally getting to that point at least!

Favorite/Best Races

The other day I was thinking of all the races I have done over the years and all the ones on the list that I still want to do!  I figured I would compile a list of what I think my top races have been over the years.  I picked based on the basis that I really enjoyed the race or would love to go back or just a great experience.  Races that stick out I guess.

Krispy Kreme Challenge – I have run the KKC 3 times now and I plan on going back again and again.  2.5 mile run, consume a dozen donuts, then run back 2.5 miles.  It is horrible and awesome at the same time.

ENDURrun – 160km over 8 days with 7 days of running.  The last day is a marathon.  The people are great. 

Transrockies – 6 days of racing in the Rockies.  Awesome way to see the Colorado countryside.

Empire State Building Run Up – Short and sweet.  Run from the bottom to the top, ending outside on the observatory deck.  It is wild.

JFK 50 Miler – JFK is just an awesome ultra.  It is big and different then others I have run, I plan on going back eventually.

Grog and Dog Jog – Team running and eating event with costumes….nothing more to say!

What are some of YOUR favorite races?

Run 4 Kerri

This year’s Run 4 Kerri was all about the great weather.  Too bad I am not in great shape and had too much fun at Foolproof’s Augtoberfest the night before the race to have taken full advantage of it. 

I woke up the morning of the race feeling like hell, a headache, no desire to get out of bed, just felt beat overall.  I finally rolled out of bed and into the shower, hoping this would get me out of my haze a bit…

I finally stumbled out of the shower and proceeded to brush the beer taste out of my mouth and get my things together.  My shoes were drenched from sweat from the prior days 13+ miler, which was supposed to be 10…so I just threw my racing shoes in my bag and used those for the warm up, race and cool down.  There was a stop at the gas station for gas and Gatorade and then off to Matunuck Elementary School.

It was an amazing day…it was cool, it was not humid and the sky was beautiful.  Soon after arriving I grabbed my bib # and threw on my running shoes and soon after that a group of 7 or 8 of us went out for a warm-up.

The race…

Zak and I had talked about started relatively easy and trying to pick it up.  This sounded great, because I was not in any shape to go out hard; having someone that I have raced with and run 1000’s of miles with would also make the race easier...

Yadda yadda…the race starts and Zak, Kaela O’Neil, Dan Hawkins and myself became a group pretty quick.  I believe there may have been a couple others early, but I don’t recall.  Through the first ½ mile or so, I felt pretty good, but unless you go out like a complete asshole, there is no reason you should feel bad a half mile into a 4 mile race.  We had thought around 5:50 pace would be a good start and we went through around 5:43, so a tad quicker, but not too fast.  The next mile went by pretty smooth as well.  We were all still together and we were catching up to some people that may have started out a bit too quick….like they always do.  We hit the 2^nd mile in 5:40.  The next mile is the toughest on the course in my opinion.  There is no huge hill or crazy headwind, it is just the 3^rd mile of a 4 mile race and you are on a straight road for about half of it, where I tend to fall asleep and then you turn into a twisty neighborhood then finish the 3^rd mile with the only hill on the course.  So, with all that said, I made a conscious effort yo try and push on the long straight stretch.  When I did this the pack broke up a bit, I am not sure if I just pulled away or what, but I started reeling in a dude in blue and I saw Dave not too far ahead.  I caught blue man at around 2.5 and started the twisty neighborhood section…got up the goddamn hill, hitting 3 in 5:49 and tried to get my legs back after cresting.  I was doing my best to try and get closer to Dave, but after 3.5 I don’t believe I got any closer, but it kept me going for sure.  With around 0.4 to go, you take one last 90 degree right hand turn, when I took that turn I could see that Zak wasn’t too far back, so the motivation to keep the pedal on the gas just went up a notch, I am not going to catch Dave, but I sure in hell did not want to get caught by Zak!  The last bit of the course is a slight up, a slight down and then about 200 meters on the driveway to the school.  I kicked hard and was able to get under 23 mins, with a 22:56.  Not too bad the way I was feeling that day!  I ran faster than Arnold Mills, but had way better weather.  Hopefully a decent performance will get me going.

A big group of us did the course again for a cool down, I bonked pretty hard.  I just wanted Gatorade and food.  Awards happened reasonably quick considering the timing companies issues….and off to Mew’s we went for lunch…14 of us in fact!  All in all it was a good race and I even picked up a prize!  Haha.