Cool Kids 5k

I ended my  physical therapy for the quad injury on Tuesday with a workout on the treadmill.  Everything went well so I felt it was time to race again.  It had been 6 weeks since I ran New Bedford and I was itching to get back out there. 

I picked the Cool Kids 5k in Billerica since it was close by and the DRC group was also running and celebrating dads birthday (75th) afterwards.  My goal was to run 6:00 pace which I hoped was a reasonable goal.  The last few years Pat Fullerton had won running under 5:00 miles, but 2nd place was typically 3 minutes back.  I chatted a bit with race timer Dave Camire then saw Pat heading out for a warm-up (that took any pressure of winning off).  It was cloudy and perfect temps for a race when I headed out for my warm-up preview of the course.

The race director did a great job of marking the certified course with the only exception being a lack of mile markers.  No matter, I had my Garmin.  The warm-up went well and I switched into racing flats and headed out for a few strides before heading to the start.

Miss Massachusetts called the start and a very small field (50) headed off with about 200 walkers to follow.  Pat took off with local William Curra (in a Captain America costume) in tow.  I was on my own right away and by 1/2 mile had moved into 2nd place.  Pat was out of sight by the mile and I just tried to concentrate on putting in a strong effort.  I was happy to come in under 18 minutes and surprised to run 5:46 pace, happily surprised!

This little race does a really nice job.  A $25 day of entry, big post-race feed, well marked course.

 23rd NEW ENGLAND PEDIATIC CARE COOL KIDS 5k - BILLERICA, MA
    
Place Time    Pace  Name                Age Sex Bib# City             St   
===== ======= ===== =================== === === ==== ================ ==
    1   15:55  5:08 Pat Fullerton        27 M    159 Bradford         MA
    2   17:51  5:46 Dave Dunham          52 M    158 Bradford         MA
    3   19:37  6:20 William Curra        45 M    113 North Billerica  MA
    4   19:50  6:24 Ania Meichsner       36 f    163 Belmont          MA
    5   20:54  6:45 David Murray         51 M    155 Burlington       MA
    6   21:37  6:59 Meghan Bailey        37 f    162 Arlington        MA
    7   23:32  7:36 Stephen King         35 m    173 Georgetown       MA
    8   24:24  7:52 Zachary Ehrhardt     30 M    115 Woburn           MA
    9   25:16  8:09 Kyle Proehl          30 M    130 N. Billerica     MA
   10   25:40  8:17 Lindsy Connolly      29 F    109 Wakefield        MA

Post race pic: Dad, John, Denise, Greg.  Front = Mom, Rose, me