Boston AA 5K

First race of the year for the three of us together.

Boston is alive with energy and anticipation this weekend.  We did our part today by having a blast at the 5K.  I raced it but the rest of my group played their way through it.  They didn't come in much behind me even though I was running all out and they were stopping, posing and going "slow." The goofing off started before the race.

At the start - Jameson uses his long arms

for our usual group photo from

on high.

Theme photo time - "Be a tiger."

Shoes and feet all accounted for.

The weather was the usual "It's cold, can I really wear short sleeves?........where you keep second guessing yourself. In the end Emily and I went for it and once again, it was the right decision.  There were over 4000 runners and it was crowded the whole way through.

You could not move an inch before the start

Along the way

I had a slow first mile dodging around people. I thought it would get better as we got farther into the race but I had to weave and dodge the whole way.  People would walk right in front of you to cross the road.

But it was flat and I loved racing in Boston.  It was great fun to cross the marathon finish line.  I had a slow first mile where it was the most crowded but I was very pleased with the next two.  My overall pace according to the race results was 9:06 - best of the year in spite of all the dodging and weaving.

Approaching the finish

Finished

Mile 1 - 9:35

Mile 2 - 8:45

Mile 3 - 8:49

.15 (Garmin)

28:15 overall

Age Group - 15/112

Overall - 1855/4187

Sure there were probably lots of people not really racing but there were also plenty who were.  So I'm happy with my results.

Meanwhile behind me on the course the foolishness continued.  They were definitely having way too much fun.

It wasn't long before my family reached the finish.

All done and accounted for

1 2 3 JUMP

We continued the day with two Expo visits by all of us and at least two visits to City Sports and Nike Town by Jameson and me.  The post adrenaline high from the race plus the I'm on vacation mentality convinced me to buy an awesome jacket and two pairs of shoes.  I'll post pics later.  Now I need to get some sleep to get ready for some major Boston Marathon Viewing, Cheering, Spectating and Cow Bell Ringing.