Saturday, September 18, 2010

CVS 5k Course Preview

Time: 33:49
Distance: 4.18 miles
Pace: 8:05
Map

After being home for less than 12 hours it was time to get back to the airport for a quick flight up to Providence, Rhode Island. Originally this trip was scheduled for Meagan to race some top competition at the post-collegiate level, but her foot is still banged up. My plan was to go and race as well, but not on an extremely competitive level. I have run this race twice before in the past and this year it wasn't all that interesting to me. I had to change that focus a bit when Meagan was out and the emphasis shifted to my race.

Meagan and I were on the same flight from Charlotte to Providence as a number of other guys racing tomorrow. We were all bussed to the race hotel and given some brief instructions. I ended up going down to the lobby to find a group of high school runners excited to see someone dressed for a run. They thought I needed a course preview and had planned on running with them. Since I was the only guy to show for this "official" preview I didn't want to let them down. We jogged from the hotel over to the start line and continued on the course. They knew the course for the most part. I had to tell them some of the turns just after the mile marker which I was sure to give them a hard time about.

I finished the run at the packet pickup tent and got all my goodies. I even ran into the old Brown Track & Field coach, Bob Rothenburg who is hands down the most well connected person in the Rhode Island running scene. We had a great time catching up and he told me about a high school cross country meet that he is directing with over 4500 kids attending. After our chat I did a few strides and jogged back over to the hotel with Pezz.

After showering and cleaning up, Meagan and I headed down to the Providence Place Mall for a bit. We walked around, tried to shop, ate a snack and then left for the hotel again. We took a taxi to Kim Smith's house where we were staying for the weekend. My hope that some of the Kim Smith and Keith Kelly (roommate) magic would rub off on Meagan and I. The rest of the evening was pretty tame.

Check out this little video of Keith who had a great love for the sport and can convince anyone that Providence is the training/running mecca of the world.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack



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