2008 Gladstone Kiwanis Firecracker 5 Miler

Unbelievable. That's all I can say right now. Unbelievable. I just compared my time for this year's 5 miler with that from last year. I cut 1 minute and 45 seconds off my time. FOR 5 MILES! For those of you that don't run, 5 miles isn't that long. It's hard to take that much time off at that distance. Especially when the previous time was decent to begin with.

My time for this year was 34:31.53 by my watch. Since it's a very small race, there are no "official" times sent out afterwards, that's my "official" time. I placed 7th in my A.G. but I don't know how I did overall. The course is nice, basically flat with one downhill (the uphill is so gradual and spread out, there almost isn't one) and a short section on a wooden boardwalk which adds a little spring to each step. This year wasn't as humid as last year, which was very welcome. And knowing the course is a big help. I knew when to start speeding up at the end. Small races are fun, and this one is one of the better small races I've done.

In some additional news, my time for this run officially shatters my previous 5 mile PR from 1994, when I was 20 years old. My old time was 35:50.73, set on the old course for the Cleveland Turkey Trot. It feels really good to be breaking all these old PR's. Kind of makes me think I'm doing something right.

Mr. P