Closing the Gap

This fall I've gave myself the goal of trying to close the gap back to where I was last year.  I started with a 21:something 5K run in September and have slowly been whittling it down.  This past Thursday I ran in the Manchester Road Race in Manchester, CT.  It's close to where I grew up and has great tradition behind it.  This year the race was capped at 15,000 and it filled up a few days before the race, making it the largest in race history.  It's a great race--there's a ton of talent, it's well organized, people line the streets along the odd-distance course (4.748 miles) shouting encouragement, playing instruments, and starting their celebrations early.  And, being from the area, it's a great opportunity to see people I don't regularly see throughout the year. 

I closed the gap from last year to within 6 seconds, so just over 1 second/mile, which is the closest I've been this fall to my race times from last year.  I ran with a similar effort to last year (hard, but not so hard I didn't enjoy the scenery, spectacle, and fans along the course), so I feel comfortable making the comparison.  In fact, I closed the race better than I did last year despite running only about 60-50% of the mileage I hit last year.  Sweet.  I'm going to spend a little more time trying to further whittle down my 5K time and hopefully get a bit closer to my PR and then around the new calendar year start up with some new training, which I'm starting to hammer out now.

After the race, I had a great T-day with my fam.

A few pictures from the race are below. (courtesy Courant.com)



I agree.  I heart Safetyman, too.



Speaking of...



One of the many bands along the way.





Runners heading up the hill.





It's thick heading toward the finish.