Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Run for the Islands

Today was the third annual 'Run for the Islands 5k and Beach Party'. It's the second year I've run in it. The Islands is a nice subdivision in Gilbert, AZ. No, there's no island, but a couple lakes.

I left the house about 40 minutes before the start of the race. It's nice to not have to get up with the Roosters to run a race. When I got to the park, I realized I didn't brink my garmin. So, no garmin, no ipod, no fanny pack for a water bottle. I ran practically naked*. The field consisted of 126 runners, so I was about 3 deep at the start line. Then I got sucked out with the fast runners. Quickly, I slowed down. I did the same thing two years ago and PR'd this race. This time I figured I might do the same. At the turn around I was tired. I walked the water stop. I was running again, but I thought it was really slow and it would be a mid 30's time for me. A little past the 2 mile mark I was walking again.

That's when I was 'Touched by an Angel' (tv show). A lady came running by and hollered 'only one mile to go, come on' at me (maybe, touched by a drill sargeant). So, I ran. I figured if she was going to yell at me, I was going to use her to distract myself. We talked. Turns out she ran the PF Chang's Full Marathon last week. I was impressed. Last year I skipped this race after running 26.2 miles. She didn't look any worse for wear. It was her second marathon. She ran the Lincoln Marathon in Nebraska last year. We talked about Nikemom. My only Nebraska connection other than, 'how bout them huskers?'. I should have told her about the Shirt That Races. Darn it. I did thank #211 after the race.

Anyway, with about 2/10 of a mile to go. I eyed the two people in front of me and decided I was passing them. Amy Williams was real close, so that wasn't an issue. Brian Watt was further up. I reeled him in and we finished 3 seconds apart. I was in front.

67/126 PAT MONAHAN 47 13/19 M 29:04 9:22 pace

My last three 5k's have been: 28:49, 29:20, 29:04.

I really do like running sub 30 minute 5ks.

CLARIFICATION
My streak did end at 27 days. I didn't run Thursday, except for softball and I didn't run on Friday. So, now I'm at 1 day running in a row.
*You should be ashamed if you clicked on naked and not 'Touched by an Angel'. I'm just sayin'. Oh, and it was hard work googling naked and looking at all those pictures to find one that I could post.

11 comments:

Greg said...

Great race, Pat. Get 'er dun!

Irene said...

I have a lot of catching up to do.

You once told me you wanted to be the runner that I was.

NOW I want to be the runner that you've become!

Nice job on the 5ks!

desert trail runner said...

Nice time Pat!

Katie said...

Lol, glad I didn't click on those links! ;-) Great run!

Pat said...

Irene, running is a series of peaks and valleys. Injuries play a large part, but so does life in general. Two things are guaranteed, we'll both have great runs in the future. We'll both have not so great runs too.

TNTcoach Ken said...

Pat, 27 days is a long time and you got me started, so thanks! Now, I'll carry the baton to pass back to you, keep doing what you do.

Jeff said...

What a model of consistency! Looking forward to my first sub-30 5k. You are my hero!

SuperDave said...

Great job Pat! Boy you are a racing machine!
Looks like you all that running is paying off with consistency.

J~Mom said...

YOu rock Pat!!! Your 5k times are awesome!

The Boring Runner said...

NICE run! One of the things that i'm looking forward to most when I move to the PHX area is all of the little races you guys have! It seems like there is a 5K about every weekend.

RooBabs said...

Congrats on the sub-30. I have yet to reach that goal, because the two that came close I didn't make it because the first one was longer than 3.1 miles (3.21 to be exact, so technically the 5k part was less than 30) and the second one was Thanksgiving when I was coming off injury and hadn't trained at all, and hadn't been running a ton.

But anyway, congrats! You are doing great with your running. I think consistency definitely helps.

Oh, and I was a little nervous to click the naked link (especially at work), but I'm glad I did. That was classic, LOL. Oh, and Touched by an Angel used to be filmed in Utah, did you know?