2010 Feaster 5 Miler - Andover, MA

Official Results: 32nd OA, 13th AG M20-29, Time: 30:34 (6:06/mile)

This is such a great race that is so close to home that it's hard for me to turn this one down. It's amazing that year after year they still get over 8,000 runners between the 5 Miler and the 5k. Even though I had sprained my ankle over a month ago I decided to sign up for it about a week before the race. After I spoke with my physical therapist she said that it would okay if I ran it. The good thing was that she taped it up for me 2 days prior and said go test it out with a walk/job/walk/jog and see how it feels and then ice it down after. After I did that the day before the race, it felt great and I didn't have any pain so I went back to the PT's office and had them re-tape it so that it would be nice and tight on Turkey Day.

This year I went to this race solo since we were driving down to CT for Thanksgiving this year, but also so Jess could go for a walk since trying to go for a walk in a sea of 8,000 + people is next to impossibly if you really want to get a good walk in. I don't blame her for that! I got to the race about an hour before hand so that I could go through the normal stretching and warm up routine. I also ran into some of my ex co-workers Tracy and Jason and it was great to see them for a short while.

Race morning was pretty chilly with the temperature around 28, but with the wind it felt like 20! I was cold most of the morning trying to warm up before the race and right up until 5 minutes before the start I was still contemplating whether to run with my jacket or without. I ended up running without it and I was perfect temperature wise once the race started considering I had my under armour top on and a long sleeve shirt on top of that. The goal of this race was to finish and not to hurt my ankle considering if I did roll it I could possibly break it and/or tear all the ligaments in it. I started towards the front to avoid any chances of tripping over people. Overall the race went okay considering my ankle issue and the fact that I just ran out of gas at about mile 3 and I think that's because I haven't been running or working out as much do to my ankle.

Here are my mile splits below from my Garmin Forerunnere 405CX:
Mile 1 - 5:52
Mile 2 - 6:13
Mile 3 - 6:21
Mile 4 - 5:55
Mile 5 - 6:18

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!