St. Patrick's Day Double

Miles and I raced the Pacer's St. Patrick's Day 5K and 10K races, completing "the double" as they call it. My goal was to run marathon race pace even with the stroller. For the race, I dressed Miles with my green hat I bought on our baby moon in Ireland. With his bright red hair, he looks really good in green. I wore my green clover hat (the one that is Adidas that I wear to Celtics games), and my running socks with clovers. I pinned to him a bib on his jacket  that says future runner they gave me for him at packet pickup.

My little leprechaun ready for the races!

It was the end of a long training week. I hit 120 miles for the first time, my most ever. I ran hills on Tuesday and did some speed on Thursday (5 repeats of 4:00 minutes at sub 6:10 pace with a 1 minute standing rest). I am very encouraged for Boston with my recent training and racing.

At the start line

We ran from our house to the start line near the Washington Monument, a little more than a five mile warm up. I let him out of the stroller for a few minutes to walk and stretch his legs. He pet a dog that was running with her owner, a beautiful golden retriever that was well behaved (pictured below).

Waiting for the starting gun

For the 5K, we lined up almost at the back, standing with the 13+ minute per mile people. The first mile was slow as it took me nearly half a mile to weave through the crowd of people before finding a solid lane. 7:24 for the first mile was pretty impressive given I think I was in the 9 minute pace for a good chunk of the beginning mile.

Racing

I was able to cut down miles 2 and 3 to 6:38 and 6:34. Miles shouted, "On your left" and "beep, beep" as we passed runners. I received a few kudos for my pace with the stroller. It was a great feeling. When finishing, I was able to give it a real good kick. I finished 6th in my age group of men 40-44 and 57th overall in a time of 21:17, good for a 6:50 pace.

Running by the Lincoln Memorial

I let him out of his stroller in between races. We shared a Nature Valley granola bar and he danced while an Irish band played Celtic music. For the 10K, I lined up with the 9 minute group. It still took a few minutes to pass enough people to get into my pace. The course was similar to the 5K, going down Independence and up towards the Kennedy Center and down Ohio Drive by the George Mason and Thomas Jefferson Memorials. I did have to push in the middle miles, especially the 5th mile which was right into the wind. For the last mile, Miles started shouting, "Go Daddy, faster!"

Showing off our bling!

I was able to pass a few people and finish strong. I was the first stroller, so I was the first stroller for the 5K, 10K, and the double. I even was first in my age group (Male 40-44), so I won! I felt happy with my times as I kept my pace in range of my marathon pace. I hope to have a solid Boston Marathon - I just have to taper correctly. And, today I found out my bib is #5204. Four weeks to go!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The racing was a neat experience. I hope Miles has great memories of us running together.

Post race photo