Three Days, Two PR's

It's been a great week for racing for me!

RACE #1
On Thursday night, I ran the TC 1 Miler in downtown Minneapolis. Perfect weather for a fun downtown event. I ran this last year in 5:15. My mile PR (personal record) wasn't much better: 5:06 on a track. So when I clocked a 5:04 on Thursday on an uphill mile road race, I was pretty surprised and really happy! Especially coming off Boston with virtually no speed workouts since last September.

I ran as part of the MDRA team. Everyone did really well. 3 of our members went 5:00 or better, and everyone else did well, especially considering that for one guy, it was his first timed mile since the Reagan administration! USATF results are here: We took 6th out of 7, but who cares!!?? We had a blast! Running down Nicollet Mall with the cheering crowds was phenomenal, felt like finishing Boston (except, I can remember finishing this race!)

Our women's team (Unattached) did even better, placing 4th out of 6. Individually, Joseph, Misty Mike, and Anne all placed in their age groups, with Fancy Kirk just getting edged out by Mike.

The USATF-only wave was a great change from last year. It was awesome to be running with and against all the same people that we see at all the races year-round. I hope they keep this format. And finishing and watching the elites run the next two waves was perfect. I won't recap, I'm sure you can find good recaps on DtB or even the Strib's site.

Two more shoutouts, great finishes to our other MDRA bloggers, Colin and Nick. Great to see you guys out there! Next stop, Brian Kraft!

OK, RACE #2!
This morning I ran the New Prague Half Marathon for again, the 2nd straight year. I PR'ed there last year, and strengthened my PR again, with a 1:21:59. Since this was NOT a USATF race series event, not as many of the fast guys showed up, so I actually was able to place 10th overall, and 2nd in my age group! (awesome medal too!) Fancy placed 8th and 1st in his age group. He could have done better, but paced me for the first 10 miles. At that point we both brought the pace way down and finished strong. However, Kirk's top gear is a good 10-15 seconds/mile faster than mine. Just like last year I had a strong 2nd half, and that's what I feel best about after this race. A lot of MDRA folks were there and PR's were plentiful. Another great day for racing!

So there you have it, 2 PR's in 3 days. I think I should run a marathon on Monday :)

Oh, and to you non-runners out there, I apologize for my most boring post ever, but the runners in the field may find this slightly interesting!