As is something of a tradition, Patty, the boys and I spent the Labor Day weekend in Ohio. We had a wonderful time visiting with Patty's parents and spent a perfect day on lovely South Bass Island. Today, I ran the 36th edition of the Milan Melon Festival Road Race.
I had twice before participated in the MMFRR, first in 2006 in the 5K and again in 2007 in the 10K, where I finished 3rd in my age group. This is a well-organized event in a nice, small town that happens to be the birth place of Thomas Edison. The t-shirt is always superb, and all can be had for a modest race-day entry fee of $12.
There was no 10K this year, so I toed the line in the 5K, hopeful that I would be able to place in my age group. I looked at the finishing times from recent years, and it seemed as though I could get a top-three finish if I broke 20 minutes. I hadn't run a 5K in more than a year, and hadn't done that much speed training, though I did run a few 3.5-mile races earlier in the summer.
I arrived at the race locale about 75 minutes before the race. I wanted to ensure that I registered soon enough to get one of those precious t-shirts. Rain had been forecast, but skies were partly sunny when the race started at 9:00 am, with the temperature a very comfortable 65 degrees.
I felt great in the first mile, which I finished in 6:12. I slowed in the second mile on purpose, as I was hoping to run an average 6:20 pace and was certain I wouldn't be able to sustain the pace I ran in the first mile. I did the second mile in 6:28, which was a bit slower than I would have liked. I completed the third mile in 6:24, and did the final 1/10th of a mile in 44 seconds.
I had no kick in me at the end. One guy who must have been about 25 blew by me in the last 50 yards or so, but I wasn't too disappointed. My finishing time was 19:48 (a 6:22 per mile pace), which was my second-fastest 5K. (I ran a 19:24 in June of 2008 at the Roselle Run for the Roses in the Chicago suburbs)
I finished 10th overall out of 373 participants. Among the people who finished in front of me was a 12-year-old boy who beat me by four seconds. The top woman finished six seconds behind me.
I've had a great few days of running. I ran 9 miles on Saturday when we arrived here and I did 6.25 miles late Sunday afternoon. I wasn't sure I would have much gas left in the tank for the Monday morning race, so that's another reason I was so pleased with the result today.
I've got the rest of the week off from work, so I look forward to a few more long runs. I'm doing the Jersey City Half Marathon in a few weeks (hoping to finish in 1:35) and I'm planning to do the Hartford Marathon next month (hopefully in less than 3:30).
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