Saturday, March 14, 2009

100% 'Irish for a Day' 10 Mile - March 14, 2009

This was my most significant race and longest race so far this year.  The 10 mile event took place in Minneapolis and consisted of one lap around Lake Harriet Parkway, then one lap around neighboring Lake Calhoun Parkway and finally on last lap around Lake Harriet Parkway to the finish line.  It was 30 degrees and sunny today with a 10mph wind from the south.  The south side of Harriet Parkway is rather hilly and the frost had not melted off the street yet so it was a little slippery going downhill.  I just let my body carry me down rather than try to 'break' on the steeper down slopes.  There were a couple sections of the course where they could have used a few more race officials to direct traffic but we made it through even though I missed one turn that cost me an additional 50 yards or so to get back on course.  My time was 1:11:21 which beat my best and only 10 mile time from last year by just over 4 minutes!  I finished 35th overall among 400 finishers and 2nd of 11 in my age group.  A fun race but they should have spent less money on free beer for the participants and more money of race management/organization. 

http://www.raceberryjam.com/indexrr.html