2010 stratford ymca sweetheart run: race report

this was my 4th stratford sweetheart run - all 4 of which i've teamed with emmy. the 2010 edition was more of fun run for me because i wasn't up for running any distance that morning. but i wasn't going to leave emmy without a partner at the last minute so off to stratford i went for the hilly 4 miler.

in past years we did pretty well. 2006 was our best showing: i ran a 25:46, emmy set the f40 course record, and we just missed first place overall by 14 seconds! but in the years since my times have slowed (but emmy set the f50 course record last year). this year was my poorest performance, 29:17 - but under the circumstances, i was pleased with the outcome.

lining up at the start, i didn't have any time goal in mind, aside from finishing. there were plenty of familiar faces in the crowd: kate, brian, ronnie, darcy, kellie, and tom. don volunteered, first at registration, then out on the course. there was even a pair of teenagers wearing pink tutus - a brave choice in the face of such a cold and windy morning!

here are my splits:

6:58
6:53 13:51
7:56 21:47
7:31 29:18

7:20 pace

i'm not sure the 3 and 4 mile markers were correct (long and short, respectively). don was at the base of the big hill at the end of mile 3, start of mile 4. in the last quarter mile to the finish line i managed to increase the pace to a nice sprint, but i had slowed too much climbing the hill to bring it in under 29 minutes.

while i couldn't stay for the awards ceremony, emmy took first in her age group and we took second in our combined age group! when i got home i went back out for a 2 mile run with katie. she ran a personal best 15:10 as a tune-up for her track meet at the armory on monday. all in all, a great morning!

here are my race photos.