1st Annual I-Cubs Memorial Day 5 Mile Fun Run

Today was a new race for me! The Iowa Cubs (the local triple A baseball team) held their first annual Memorial Day 5 Mile Fun run. While it was billed as a 'fun run' it was actually a race and had a nice course through downtown Des Moines.

We started the race heading out of Principal Park's parking lot and out on to the city streets. We went one block and then turned west on MLK Boulevard for a long stretch. We hit mile one in a slight drizzle while heading down MLK. I looked at my watch and we had run mile 1 in 9:06. I still felt pretty good and we were pretty bunched up running on local trails. We got up to the top of the hill on MLK and then turned south on the river trail toward Grey's Lake. I still felt pretty good as we passed the two mile mark, running the second mile in 9:26. From the second mile, we had to work our way around some flood waters at the lake and then head around Grey's Lake across the great pedestrian bridge they have built there. We crossed over the Des Moines river and ran along the south side of the river on the Meredith Trail. I still felt ok, but struggled a bit as we crossed mile 3 with a mile time of 9:49. We kept running for a while longer on the trail trying to ignore the heat that was starting to build as we moved toward mile 4. I started to get my wind back a bit here and just kept the pace along the trail. We finally came out from under a bridge and saw Principal Park off in the distance and felt the finish line getting closer. We crossed mile 4 with a mile time of 9:38. Shortly after mile 4, we crossed a bridge across the river and back toward the stadium. This is where I mis-calculated a bit and thought that we were close to done, even though my distance meter told me that I had .5 miles to go. I got down to the stadium and the course volunteers told me "just around the stadium and you're done!" I was hoping that wasn't the case, so I had to adjust a bit to keep going. I slowed my pace a bit and worked around the stadium. Once around most of the stadium I kicked in the jets a bit again and passed a couple more people toward the finish line. I finished the race strong and finished my last mile in 9:00 for a total time of 47:11. I felt pretty good considering I had run yesterday. I think this is a good sign going into the big distance training.

Here's the race summary:
Mile 1: 9:06
Mile 2: 9:26
Mile 3: 9:49
Mile 4: 9:38
Mile 5: 9:00
Total: 47:11

See you on the roads folks!
Alex