This race runs right along the Pacific Ocean in beautiful Redondo Beach, CA. The weather for this race is usually very nice and yesterday was no exception. The temp was in the 50's and the sun was shining. For me anyway it was IRC. I started out from home with a 2.5 mile warm-up and then when I got to the race site, I met up with Dromedary, Ilene and their husbands Lew and Tom. We all warmed-up a little more before the race and then we were off. My plan was to run at about 7:45-8:00 min miles and I stayed at that pace throughout the race. I did the first mile in 7:43.79 (these are all Garmin times) and was feeling strong. The second mile has a slight incline, so I slowed down to 8:00.59. I was still feeling strong. The third mile goes slighly downhill so I picked up the pace and headed for home. My time was 7:35.73. I put on a final kick over the last .11 (which I did in 00:46.49) and finished in 24:07 (7:46/mi) Garmin time. Chip time was 24:01.5. I placed 3rd/27 in the 55-59 AG and won a medal. Overall I was 169/1164 and among males I was 135/520. When the race first ended and they posted the unoffical results, I was 2nd in my AG, but they had listed the actual 2nd place as a female. So when the offical results were corrected, I was 3rd. I am very happy with the results for this race as I am right on pace for the year. I usually run my slowest time at the Super Bowl 10k. Then I run a little faster in this St. Pat's race. My usual goal race and fastest times come at the Lomita 5k in late June or on the 4th of July. Drom, Ilene and Lew all had some really great times as well. In fact Drom and Ilene had a race to the finish line. I won't say any more, I will let them tell their own stories in their RR's. It was great to see Drom and Lew again. I had not seen them since last June at Lomita. We all ran at the Super Bowl 10k but we missed seeing one another. I hope we can race again together this year. This same goes for Ilene. I had never met Ilene and her DH before. They are really great people and I look forward to seeing them at races again. One thing I learned from this race is that I have the stamina now to run fast (at the end of the race I still felt very strong) but I need to do more speed work and hills to strengthen my legs. Over the last mile I knew I could go faster but the fast twitch muscles just were not there. So for the next race I will cut back a little on the stamina phase (tempo runs) and add more weeks of speed (400m, 800m and 1000m runs). My next race will be the Lomita, CA 5k in June. Bruce

Bruce, Congratulations! Wow, you have gotten quite a bit faster since the last time I met you. And third place in the AG?! That is outstanding. There are more than a thousand runners, so that is quite a feat. Again, congratulations, you are running very well. And lucky you! You got to meet up and run with llene & Dromedary and their better halves. Sounds like a great time was had by all. Hopefully I can run with you at Lomita again this year. huskydon

Nice running, Bruce. Sounds like an excellent day. Congrats.

Hi Bruce, Congrats on a great race, some good learning about yourself, AG hardware, and on being able to spend some time with forum friends. Outstanding!!! Jay

Excellent racing, Bruce! Congratulations on your 3rd AG win. I remember Redondo Beach and the pier - it is indeed a lovely beach town.

Well done Bruce and it's clear that you have strength and stamina to draw upon. It doesn't get much better than running with friends and running a fine race! Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

Whoo hooo! Excellent racing and congratulations on the age group win. Well done.

Nice racing and nice report. Congrats on the AG placing!

One thing I learned from this race is that I have the stamina now to run fast (at the end of the race I still felt very strong) but I need to do more speed work and hills to strengthen my legs. Over the last mile I knew I could go faster but the fast twitch muscles just were not there. So for the next race I will cut back a little on the stamina phase (tempo runs) and add more weeks of speed (400m, 800m and 1000m runs). Bruce

I particularly liked reading this paragraph from your report. Racing can show us alot about our training. It's great that you paid close attention to your body and are able to learn these types of things. I need to pay more attention to the way my body reacts... Thanks for sharing this insight.