The morning of Saturday, April 19, I headed up to Kent Island to take part in the Kent Island Running Group’s Fast & Furriest Run for Rescues 15K, which was also my second race of the 2025 RRCA Maryland/DC Grand Prix Series.
I haven’t been running as much as I usually do this year, in part because I didn’t sign up for a spring marathon. My lighter running also led me to not race a spring half marathon (I did pace one half). The Fast & Furriest 15K was one of my longer runs of 2025, at about 9.3 miles. It was also the week after the half marathon I paced — the Coastal Delaware Running Festival Half Marathon.
I’ve never really raced a 15K, aside from a virtual race I did in the summer of 2021. My goal for this event was to run a faster per-mile pace than I did at March’s Shamrock Shuffle 10 Miler, which was 11:36/mile.
The race started and ended at Terrapin Nature Park. I parked along the road, picked up my shirt and bib and was able to use the bathroom at the start (there were permanent bathrooms and a couple portable toilets).
The race was mostly an out-and-back along the Cross Island Trail, where I’ve run before, but the way out also had an additional short out-and-back that wasn’t repeated on the way to the finish, so the next turnaround was a little more than halfway through the run. There were also 5K and 10K options, so other participants turned around at different points, and the group thinned out some for those of us running the longest option, the 15K. The 15K is the race that is part of the Grand Prix series.
I started out with my fastest mile of the day, 9:57. I figured that was unsustainable, but for a while, I figured I might be able to keep my race pace under 11:00/mile. At the Historic Stevensville Distance Festival 8.15-miler in September, I was able to do that for a slightly shorter distance (however, I was also training for a marathon at that time).
I walked a little bit after finishing each mile, at first aiming for about 30 seconds, as well as through the water stops. I also ended up needing to walk a little more toward the end. I enjoy run-walk intervals and definitely don’t see walking as a bad thing, but I also like to do it strategically instead of feeling like I have to. My watch logged 1:34:40 of running, 8:58 of walking and 24 seconds of idle time.
I was able to keep my average pace under an average of 11:00/mile for the first four miles, but after that, I started slowing down a bit. While it would have been fun to have my average pace start with a “10,” I knew that was OK, and I would still be under my original goal. I get warm while running easily and did end up feeling warm during the race. I used the water stops along the way and ended up running some of the race with a water bottle I’d gotten at an aid station.
By the time I was nearing the finish line, I had slowed down, and my last full mile of the race was my slowest, 11:56. That’s somewhat rare for me to have my last mile be the slowest in a longer race, but I guess it means I gave it my all. I was able to speed up a bit for the last stretch, running what my watch logged as 0.36 of a mile at a 9:27 pace.
I finished the race with a time of 1:43:56, an average 11:09/mile pace that was nearly 30 seconds faster per mile than what I was able to run at the Shamrock Shuffle. I was wearing new shoes (I’d broken them in with one prior run), the Brooks Ghost Max 2, which did leave blisters on my toes but that I did like and have enjoyed running in since.
I finished 37th of 57 in this distance overall, and while I was sixth of six in my age group, I was still able to earn some Grand Prix points, because not everyone competes in the Grand Prix.
Afterward, I enjoyed some refreshments and chatted with some Kent Island Running Group members and fellow ESRC member Chaze before heading on to visit my family and celebrate Passover and Easter.
This was a fun event for a great cause and I’d run it again! After the race, I saw that KIRG donated $4,500 to Chesapeake Cats and Dogs and $4,500 to Queen Anne’s County Animal Services as a result of this race. That makes me happy as a rescue cat mom of two!
Splits
Mile 1: 9:57
Mile 2: 10:30
Mile 3: 10:40
Mile 4: 11:13
Mile 5: 11:38
Mile 6: 11:18
Mile 7: 11:33
Mile 8: 11:42
Mile 9: 11:55
Last part (watch had .36): 3:25 / 9:27 pace
Final: 1:43:56 / 11:09 pace (on watch: 1:43:57 / 11:06 pace)
She Runs by the Seashore 