Legal Run Around 5-K

  Spring and summer are my favorite racing seasons. After a winter of pounding the treadmill, I like to test things out with some competition. Most of the times, I stay with familiarity, and run the same races each year. I tried a new one, the Legal Run Around 5-K in Somerville on May 21st, and plan to make it back.
  The race is a benefit for the Somerset County Bar Association Foundation (thus, the name!), and is held in the evening, starting and finishing at the Somerset County Court House. Although there are many turns on the side streets of the borough, the course would be considered fast and flat. It was perfect running weather this year, too, in the high 50's, with a minimal wind. The race attracted just under 300, enough to be around people most of the way, but certainly not over-crowded. There's a good post-race vibe, with a DJ, buffet from Verve Restaurant, and a lot of raffle prizes.
   As far as my race, the keyword would be "encouraging." After suffering a torn meniscus last August, my training had a lot of starts, stops, and hiccups through the past winter, and I didn't do nearly as much speed work as I would have liked.
   That out of the way, my knees were not an issue in the race, and I got through the first mile in a satisfying 6:35. The crowd around me had thinned out, and although I kept running as hard as I could, I hit the two mile in a slower 13:40. I must have seemed in worse condition than I perceived, as a volunteer along the second mile, hearing my loud panting, said "pace yourself, bud, you still have half the race to go!"
    The final mile ends on a slight grade for the final quarter-mile. I couldn't quite close in on the person in front of me most of the race, and I was "out-leaned," by another runner who must have been pacing off me in that final stretch. Although his hair was speckled with gray, like mine, luckily he was slightly younger, and I won the 55-59 age-group in 21:27.8, placing 21st overall.
    Although this time is still about a minute behind where I was pre-injury, it's an improvement by about 30 seconds on my last two 5-k's. I didn't feel I could run a second faster in this one, but with some more track work over the next few weeks, hopefully there's still room to progress. I drove home satisfied, and "celebrated" with a large cheese steak from Rocco's in Bedminster, and a Narragansett beer!