Sunday, March 15, 2009

St. Malachi 5 Mile


The entire week I was out in Boulder, once again. I wasn’t able to climb any mountains this time, but did get a few nice runs in. The Rockies had their snow caps and look amazing in the blue sky. I still managed to get a sun burn while out there. Lucky me.

While out there, my buddy Jim talked me into running the St Malachi race back in Cleveland. I had a late flight coming back, so I know it wasn’t going to be pretty. My flight ended up having delays and I got in even later. Saturday morning came EARLY and next thing I know Jim is in my driveway waiting to head up. We swung through Independence and picked up another runner Courtney and head to downtown Cleveland.

The St Malachi is known for being a pretty big race in the spring. Lots of folks come out to run it. This year, there was over 1,500 people. Not bad for a 5 miler. Not bad if you figure that is almost as many people who run the Cleveland Marathon! Chip timed and everything.


The race went well. I did my usual and went out too fast. Hit the first three miles in 5:50, 6:00. 6:05. Of course, Jim had told me that the course was a little hilly, but all in all pretty flat. Yeah right. This was a pretty hilly course and hit several bridges around the Cleveland Flats.

I ended up being pretty happy with my overall finish. Final time was 32:46 which was good for 71st place out of 1592 total runners and 11th of 141 guys in my age group. Good for a 95% finishing place. One of my highest finishers ever. And a PR to boot! That’s another PR in 2009 already! Not bad on less than 4 hours of sleep.

So, I also found out the best part of this race is the post race party at McCarthy’s. Got to see a bunch of my running friends (many of which I think have been hibernating all winter!) and got to make some fun plans for Boston. Which reminds me…5 weeks ‘til Boston!

Song of the Week: I will Survive (Remix)