Easton 5 Miler

Last Sunday's race was not actually called the Easton 5 Miler...I think it was the Harvest 5 Miler or something similar to that.  Whatever it was officially called, that race rocked!

My sister, sister-in-law and I got there pretty early and the weather was cloudy with hints of sun and chilly...PERFECT race weather.  Really, if you race or even run, you live for running weather like this.  In New England, we get about a month of it...maybe a month and a half, so you have to make it count.

I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous going into this race.  My long runs have been topping out at 5.7 miles and I have had few miles in between.  Really, I have basically sucked at training in general lately.  The night before the race Bill asked me what my goal was and I told him 10 minute miles.  I think I used to run 5 milers at 9:50 miles, so that seemed about right.

And I was (almost) dead on!

My sister-in-law Meri and I ran almost all of the race together, which was a treat for me because shes about 30 seconds per mile or so faster than me.  We hung out together and got to chat and race, which made miles 2-4.5 fly by.  Mile 1 was actually a little painful due to our pre-race dinner of wine and pizza...and wine.  But after mile 1, we were good to go!  We paced the first 4 miles at steady 10:10s.  I felt great!  Meri left me at the 4.5 mile mark to burst ahead and I finished strong at 50:34, which put me around 10:07 miles. 

I have to tell you all, I am pretty pleased with this effort.  The weather was beautiful, the company was good, the course was pretty and I felt like I ran a smart (if not a teeny bit conservative) race.

I also had a great run at lunch today, which leaves me contemplating my next race.  I would love to hear some ideas!  I am looking for a pretty 5 Miler or 10K...