Run for the Islands 5K

It's Race Day. After playing softball last night until 10:30 at night, I had to wake up at 6 am to get to the "Run for the Islands 5K". The Islands is a community in Gilbert, AZ. No, islands that I know of in this community, but they do have two lakes. The 5K was an out and back on one of their main roads finishing in a large community park. This race might have reached 150 participants. Not sure yet. I started near the front for a change. This was my first experience near the front so I started by keeping pace with the other runners. At least for the first half mile I was running in the 8:30-9:00 mpm pace. Way to fast for me, but oh well.

I settled down to doing about 10:20 miles. Of course I set my nike + up for a 5K, so it kept giving me kilometer splits. I did the math and figured I needed to be at about a 6:10-6:20 pace to be happy with my race. I liked the out and back because I actually got to see the leaders run back to the finish. The winner was under 18 minutes for the whole race.

With my fast start I needed a walk break around mile 2. I took a few walk breaks but sprinted home passing one runner for a PR of 31:05 or a 10:02 pace per mile. My previous PR at 5k was last December 28th at the Bumble 5K in San Diego. I had a time of 33:16. 2 minutes and 11 seconds faster. As you could guess, I'm pretty excited about that. After I got home and uploaded my nike +, I found out that I also set a personal record in the mile with a time of 9:39. Twenty seconds faster than I did two days before.

Althought this was a small race, they had about 10 vendors set up giving us all kinds of goodies. My two favorites were a bit of chocolate moose from one of those new "dinner" companies that will start your dinner for you and you finish it at home and a mini burger from Simply Burgers.

Now it's just 22 days til the Lost Dutchman Half Marathon. I need to get a 10+ miler in before that race.

Race Update: Out of 161 runners I finished 91. The middle of the pack. Out of 21 men in their 40's, I finished 15th. Before the race I met Roland, another Tnt'er and his son Tyler. They raced together and Tyler took 2 minutes off his PB. Roland and I both parked in the vacant lot across the street. It was just plowed (not sure if they grow anything on it) and it was very soft dirt. His truck got stuck, but he warned me to stay on the harder grassy area. After the race we hooked his truck up to my SUV and I pulled him out. It's the most manly thing I've done with my SUV.

I, also met Noble who ran a 26 minute race and Brian who's just starting to run and is enjoying it. My stats:

91 PAT MONAHAN 45 15/21 M 129 31:05 10:01

Softball Report by Mike (the coach)
What a game tonight. Up 4-0. Not letting them score. Then they have a big inning (thanks, in part, to a bunt, but I digress). The score is now 8-4. We threaten a couple times but can't make anything happen. Last inning. We get them down 1-2-3. Good defense all around tonight. Bottom of the last inning. Down four runs. Jeff nails one and circles the bases. Keri comes close. One out. Angus lays down a nice base hit. Cheryl moves him over. Two outs. Runner on second. Down by three. I finally get one to go the opposite way, Angus scores and I am on third with a triple. Down two. Gina steps up. Nails one. Circles the bases. Tied game. Pat craftily crowds
the plate and draws a walk. Geri graciously takes first base base.
First & second, two down, tied game. Duane pokes a single up the middle, Pat crosses home plate. We win! That's right, we win!
Of course, most of you know this. But I had to retell it. Already called my brother and Karen. We are now 1-0. Yes, we are already half way to our best win total.
Great start to the season. Thanks for all coming out. See you all next Friday for another late game: 9:30.
By the way, do you all remember that the St. Louis Cardinals won the world series?
Mike

SomeBurros Report: Amy and I did have lunch at SomeBurros yesterday. And they don't have anything low cal. Well, diet coke. Anyway, I think I did ok. I ate two chicken tacos. No beans. No rice. A few chips with salsa. I avoided the Fundido, the chimichanga I spoke of. My weight this morning was the same. So, I'll call this a small victory.