Clinton Township 15K

I decided to jump in the Clinton 15K and run with the RVRR team. This was a the USATF 15K championship race and they were looking for runners to fill the 40's, 50's and 60's team. The RVRR guys are very fast and I was a bit nervous about running with these guys. I know they probably wouldn't care, but I would. I have been running well despite my right knee bothering me and it doesn't seem to bother me while running. The course had a bit of everything, rolling hills, hard top, trail and some grass which took us across to the path back to the finish.

I ran the Indian Trails 15K about 4 weeks ago in 1:09 but it was very hilly so I was hoping for a better time today. I started out with a 7:09minute first mile and a fast 6:43 second mile and hit 5 miles in 35:41 and was breathing easy. My pace was slowing but still sub 7:15 which was decent. I really didn't think I could shave 30 seconds of my pace in less than 30 days but I was going to give it a try. I figured a 7 minute pace would be respectable, but unless I could turn it on in the last 4 miles, I would have to be happy with a sub 7:15 pace. Mile seven was a 7 minute split, and 8 was a 7:10 and 9 was a rather fast 7:02 which was slightly uphill. I crossed the tape in 1:06:12. I ran with a few runners from miles 3-6 and I just kept saying to myself, keep up with them.

I pretty much ran hard all the way and felt like I gave my best today. I was part of the RVRR "B" team which was good for 6th place. The "A" team finished 1st beating out Shore AC by 3 minutes. John Kane (1:00:50), David Huse (1:00:53), Roger Price (1:01:53), Frank Russo (1:04:14) and Bruce Koel (1:07:27) made up the winning team.