Scott Carlson Memorial 5km race

I headed down to RI to race this weekend, figuring it would be a good chance to race on my way to the Cape for some Fire tower and Town bagging. The Carlson race was at Goddard Park where the Grand prix had been held back in the days when it was the NEAC (New England Athletic Congress) 5 km championship.

I headed down at 7AM and was one of the early arrivals at 845, ultimately 505 would sign up to run. I didn't see anyone (really...no one else was out there) when I warmed-up on the course at 915. I felt pretty lousy warming-up but that is par for the course. I was surprised and happy to see that the course had "K" markers along with the more traditional mile markers. It just makes sense to have K's in a course that is metric.

I got on racing flats and headed out for another mile and some strides. I was starting to wonder if anyone was here to race as no one was jogging around with less than 10 minutes to go. I did see a couple of fast women (Stephanie Reilly & Nicole Radzik) but no obvious fast guys. The race has attracted some fast runners in the past with a $500 CR bonus (1409 & 1644) and $250/150/100 for the top three.

I was hoping for sub 1630 and tried to head out strong. Stephanie Reilly led for the first 400 then I moved into the lead with Eric Lonergan (who won last year in 1555). We ran side-by-side through 3km then I got a stride on Eric. It was short lived as he blew by me at 2 miles. He had about 3-4 seconds on me by 4km but I slowly reeled him back in. I figured my only shot was to get ahead of him before the final 400 or I'd get out-kicked. Unfortunately (for me) I couldn't get a lead and only just barely caught him as we hit the 3 mile mark.

He put the hammer down at that point and beat me by 4 seconds in the last .109, even with me hitting 31.8 for that last part. I was pleased with the effort but not so much with the time. I guess the breeziness and the warmth (70s) were part of it, or maybe it just wasn't my day. Either way I took some solace in getting $150.

Next up: ????

Split:
Ks= 322/323/319/323/315.8

Miles = 526/521/524/31.8


The SCOTT CARLSON MEMORIAL
Saturday, April 25, 2009 Warwick, RI
===== ======== ==== =================== == = =============== == ========
1 1/76 2 LONERGAN ERIC 23 M N KINGSTOWN RI 16:39 5:22
2 1/42 477 DUNHAM DAVE 45 M WARD HILL MA MA 16:43 5:23
3 1/145 3 REILLY STEPHANIE 31 F WHITINSVILLE MA 17:18 5:35
4 2/145 514 RADZIK NICOLE 23 F SUTTON MA 18:35 5:59
5 2/76 501 SIMMONS TODD 38 M N SCITUATE RI 19:06 6:09