She Runs by the Seashore

I don’t race 5Ks all that often, and after the Providence Marathon didn’t quite go how I wanted it to, I was looking forward to testing my speed at the Ben Layton 5K on June 3.

There were plenty of fellow Eastern Shore Running Club and 11:30 Club members running the race, and it also benefits two great causes — the Ben’s Red Swings playground, built in memory of Ben Layton, who died in 2002 at age 4 from acute myelogenous leukemia; and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

I ran on the Eastern Shore Running Club team and represented the club in my team singlet. Because we had more than 10 members sign up, we were recognized as a team sponsor, which was nice.

It would have been great to run faster than my fastest 5K from last year (which was also my fastest since 2019) — 28:47 at the Run, White & Blue 5K. However, I wasn’t entirely convinced I’d do that on this day. I always like to be able to run sub-30 if possible, and at last year’s Ben Layton 5K, which was in May, I ran 30:34.

The race is in Salisbury and close enough for a short jog from my house, so I ran down to get my bib and race swag — custom socks — then ran back to put the socks in my house and ran back to the start. I logged a total of three-quarters of a mile for the warm-up.

The course starts out going through the Salisbury Zoo, and early on, I got encouragement from one of my coworkers there (I’m marketing the Zoo now in the job I’ve had since January). I felt good starting out and ran the first mile in 9:04. I knew I would need to run at or under a 9:10 to beat my fastest time from last year, so this was a good start, but I was unsure about holding on.

After the Zoo, the course continued on the crush-and-run path around the usual Salisbury City Park loop that I run all the time, but it did include the Scout Field, which is grassy. I felt like this slowed me down some, and right after that, I took advantage of the water stop.

I looked down to see 18:38 for two miles, which is a strong two miles for me. I ran the second mile in 9:33.

After passing by the finish line, the course had an out-and-back section instead of continuing the loop because the Wicomico Recreation & Parks Youth Fishing Derby was the same day. It was fun to see friends on the out-and-back, but this also made me want to keep saying “good job” to people, which probably took a little energy away (but was still worth it).

I was able to speed up from the second mile to finish the third mile in 9:21, and I ran the last bit (which tracked as 0.17 on my watch) in 1:27, an 8:38 pace. My finish time on my watch was 29:27, a 9:18 pace.

The results logged my time as 29:37, a 9:34 pace.

Afterward, there were plenty of refreshments, and I had a bagel with cream cheese (there were toasters!) and a Rice Krispies treat, along with water. There were lots of door prizes from local businesses, but I didn’t win one.

The overall winners and the winners of each age group also received a pie from The Ugly Pie, which is an awesome prize. Although my time was faster than last year, the competition was more tough, as last year I placed second in my age group (and won a VP Shoes gift certificate), while this year I placed fifth.

The 11:30 Club received a gift card to Island Creamery for having the most team spirit, so even though I ran with ESRC, I still got to take part in an evening ice cream party another day, which was fun.

Since I’ve gotten a little behind in posting, I did test my 5K speed again a few days ago, and I was able to beat last year’s time and run my fastest 5K since 2019. Stay tuned!

Splits

Mile 1: 9:04
Mile 2: 9:33
Mile 3: 9:21
Last part (watch had .17): 1:27 (8:38 pace)

Finish Time: 29:27 / 9:18 pace on watch; 29:37 / 9:34 pace on results