St Malachi Race Report: Luck of the Irish

I'm happy to report that the first race of 2012 is now in the books! And fortunately it went better than I expected! After suffering from tendonitis in my right foot and then facing some  other health issues for a few weeks, my training wasn't exactly ideal for racing. I was only able to get in one interval workout about two weeks before the race so I was nervous about my performance. Okay, that's putting it mildly. I pretty much freaked out Saturday morning before the race.

I talked myself down from the ledge with a little help from Steve and we arrived at the race site around 9:15. Plenty of time to get ready and warm-up for the 9:45 start. We ran a mile slow just to loosen up, hit the very long lines for the porta-pottys, split a bottle of water and lined up close to the front. Although according to Steve not close enough as we spent the first couple minutes passing slower runners.

My first mile felt good as I kept it at a comfortably hard pace but did not go all out as I have the tendency to do. I knew I would need to save a little for the end of this race as it probably one of the most challenging 5-mile courses around Cleveland. Miles 2 and 3 were the same. I saw Steve as I headed for the turn-around. He was about 1/4 mile or 1/3 mile ahead. I skipped the water stand and went full speed ahead. Was a little fatigued around mile 3.8 before the flats under the bridges but held steady. After the brutal uphill climb back onto the bridge I had to collect myself for a few seconds and then I choked it up to finish strong in 35:55. Definitely better than I expected at a 7:11 pace. Although not nearly good enough to rank in my age group. I was 14th out of 260. Not bad I suppose for the season opener. Special thanks to Swiftwick for helping my feet stay happy! Swiftwick is a team sponsor this year of Team Rev3 and provided socks for the race! Love them and will be wearing them at EVERY race this season!

Steve was waiting at the finish and we grabbed some food then headed over to the after-race party at McCarthy's. The bar was packed as you can imagine since 3500 people run the race and most go directly after to the bar.  Here's a pic of me and Steve after the race. Don't worry we freshened up and changed into some dry, clean gear after the race. I always do because otherwise I smell like a big, sweaty 200+ # man.

It was nice running into friends and celebrating with some hard-earned beers. I was happy to have my Bell's Two-Hearted Ale! Jill and Beal were enjoying their Summer Shandies!